Worse followed. The con-
cussion diagnosed on the day
became more complicated, with
vision problems recurring on the
flight home. Back in Spain and
straight to the specialist, and
he was diagnosed with a return
of the double-vision syndrome
that struck last year, ruling him
out of two races and leading to
a second successive winter of
recuperation.
The same problem almost
ended his career back in Moto2
days in 2011. The threat remains.
But why should a rider of such
manifest genius crash so often?
Five times in the first two races!
Pushing over the limit has al-
ways been his way of finding out
exactly where it is, and he does
it better than any other rider in
history. So even after having
missed a full 2020 season and
much of 2021 after his seriously
broken arm at Jerez, he could
still make light of it. That was, af-
ter all, his first significant fracture
in more than 10 years of GP rac-
ing and a huge number of falls.
Certainly, it didn't change his
crash-happy policy. Last year,
Marc missed four of the 18 rac-
es, but still recorded more falls
"T
he bigger they are, the
harder they fall." This
truism comes from
boxing but applies to all walks of
life. Innovative MotoGP super-
star Marc Marquez, however,
adds a new twist.
"The faster they are, the more
often they fall."
It's easy to make light of
crashing when you crash as
often as he does. He even joked
at round one in Qatar that he
obviously wasn't back to his
full form "because I only fell off
once."
His fifth crash of the new
season, on the morning of the
Indonesian GP, was far from
humorous: a very fast and very
brutal high side that left him vis-
ibly dazed and ruled him out of
the race.
P130
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
But why should a rider of such
manifest genius crash so often? Five
times in the first two races!
UNNECESSARILY
FAST, OR UNNECESSARILY
DANGEROUS?
