Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 22 JUNE 4, 2013 One last question, the thorniest. "Marc says that Alex is faster than him. What do you think?" "I tell Alex he is faster than Marc was at his age, but how will you be when you are his age, because he matured faster than you. Alex is still immature. Also he is much bigger. We must wait." Alex, in his first full GP season after winning the Spanish title, shows all the early signs of being the next big thing. He looks a lot like his older brother, but larger at 17 than Marc is at 20. Is he faster? Laughter. "In Supermoto, yes. When he was 17, I see his times, and I am a little bit faster," Alex says. "But here it is different." Alex might not have raced had Marc not been ahead of him. "It was from him I got the pas- Esteve Rabat. Racing, or just playing? "No, no. Racing. I try to beat him but it is difficult, because his control of the bike... incredible. For me he is a teacher." Alex assesses Marc's special abilities. "He is a hard boy. Marc is always ready to take an action. He decides very quickly, and does not doubt." For his own part: "I am trying to improve the one-on-one. But every race you have more experience, to know where you can overtake somebody." Clearly his own path to the bigtime has been paved by Marc. "In one way, it's more easy because people take notice of you. The other way is more pressure. They expect more than a normal rider. I must try to make something good, to make my own place in IN " I TRY TO HELPTHETHE EVENING, BUT YOU ARE AT CIRCUIT DOING YOUR JOB. " - Marc Marquez sion for racing. When I was little, I said to my father I wanted to be my brother's mechanic." Alex started riding when he was five, road-racing from eight, and after a spell of karting came through to win the Spanish Moto3 title last year. The brothers have trained together – Supermoto, motocross, flat track – from the start, joined nowadays by Moto2 race winner the championship." Alex's interview is conducted in a small office, partitioned off from the back of his Estrella Galicia (a beer sponsor) Moto3 team truck: the rest occupied by a spare KTM engine on a stand, and space to carry everything else (bike included) in the adjacent pit. It's a bit different for Marquez, new boy wonder of Repsol Honda. He's part of a big P93 machine now, the huge hospitality unit to himself. He's created the role by his blazing start – winning his second MotoGP race, on the rostrum of his first four races, and twice starting from pole. Aged 20, every one of these achievements has broken the 1983 records of Spencer, of whom he knows little. "He was racing before I was born. For me it is important to make records, but not very, very important. It means you are on the correct way. But then it becomes more difficult." Marc was fresh from the already world-famous Jerez bashup with Jorge Lorenzo, and even fresher from a rider briefing where the reigning champion, still smarting from losing second 10 days before, had sounded off about how riders should be penalized for collisions. He was of course quite unrepentant. "I know he is angry, but for me it's okay." He laughingly admits a weakness many of us might share (though not when pitted against Lorenzo): that when he sees another motorcycle in front of him he has an irresistible urge to overtake it. The merciless days in Moto2 have taught him much. "I learned to take my best and always give my 100 percent because it is so difficult to make the difference in Moto2." He was harsh enough to suffer several penalties for dangerous riding in Moto2; borderline moves were part of his tactics.

• Cover