P110
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
A
mong many strange
events, 2020 is not just
the Year of the Rookie,
but also the Year of the Brother.
Put it another way: to succeed
in motorcycle racing, have a
sibling with the same ambition.
Then ideally you want to keep
him at arm's length.
Brotherhood is one way to
explain Alex Marquez's extraor-
dinary second place at Le Mans
on Sunday.
To be fair, brotherhood also
largely explains why he is in the
top Honda team at all. Moto2
title notwithstanding, a class
rookie was not the most obvious
choice to recruit for one of the
highest-level seats in MotoGP.
But it hasn't necessarily all
been a cushy ride. The younger
former bedroom-sharer of the
(still sadly absent) current best
rider in the world has suffered
for years under the shadow
of Marc. The forensic scrutiny
began when he arrived in Moto3
in 2012, when he scored just
a pair of lower top-10s, some-
where short of Marc's first-sea-
son benchmark of six top-10s,
including a podium.
On Sunday in France, Alex
stepped out of that shadow
and finally made good on the
long-ago comment by both his
brother and their father that "Alex
is faster than Marc was, at the
same age."
From 18th on the grid to
a strong second was a fine
achievement, after a first men's-
class season on the high-level
factory Honda. Particularly since
OH, BROTHER!
Alex Marquez
has to live in
the shadow of
his high-profile
brother.
