Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1410086
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 P147 Relying on Marc Marquez alone was always high risk and remains so, not least because the maestro might be showing signs of what might be dubbed the Rossi Syndrome. He is still only 28, but he is jaded by injury, and now younger riders are pushing him into areas he's never needed to linger before. Hasn't stopped him from trying, yet—but it's getting painful. Look at the crash list. In spite of missing the first two races, Marc's 16 crashes so far are more than any other rider in all three classes. (Next up, team- mate Pol Espargaro, struggling to master the handful Honda, with 15.) Marc has always been prone to minor tumbles, mainly low- siders in practice, when seeking the limit. This year, so many have been big crashes, including a monster at Assen, and now an- other at Silverstone, at 170 mph. To say he was lucky to escape with nothing more than grit in his eye understates the case. He's also crashed out of three races: Le Mans, Mugello and Catalunya. And in Austria, though he was able to remount and finish in the points. Then another race crash at Silverstone, on the first lap, "too optimistic," he explained apolo- getically. "Races are sometimes like this. Today it was me who made the mistake." Yes, but also the same mis- take on the first corner at the restarted Styrian GP two races ago, twice. On each occasion, he barged into an increasingly disgruntled Aleix Espargaro. Is this a symptom of a rider who, for all the wrong reasons, is too far out of his comfort zone (one hesitates to say, of such a huge talent, out of his depth)? Or is it simply having to try too hard on a bike still short of the standard set by the ever-improv- ing opposition? This is not contradicted by Repsol team chief Alberto Puig, who freely admits they have problems to solve. Frozen engine development is just one obstacle, but chassis balance remains elusive, and the bike is more of a handful on tracks with poor grip. Which is today, most of them once the tires go down. Marquez identified the cause of earlier crashes as needing to push too hard, especially under braking, and of the Assen crash as an electronic glitch that bam- boozled the traction control—an undignified system failure for a leading team. Fellow Repsol rider Pol has consistently complained that, with no previous data, lim- ited pre-season testing and an opaque teammate reluctant to share meaningful information. "I don't know if the problem is me, the settings, or the bike." He could thus hail pole at Silverstone, four laps in the lead, and a strong fifth place as a breakthrough. The forthcoming races will show whether or not this is pre- mature, whether or not Honda has dug themselves out of their hole. CN Relying on Marc Marquez alone was always high risk and remains so, not least because the maestro might be showing signs of what might be dubbed the Rossi Syndrome. He is still only 28, but he is jaded by injury, and now younger riders are pushing him into areas he's never needed to linger before. Hasn't stopped him from trying, yet—but it's getting painful.