VOLUME 61 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 P97
BY NEIL MORRISON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
M
arc Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
wouldn't be drawn on it. But the
Catalan can count himself a
championship contender once again after
he mastered tricky conditions in Misano to
claim back-to-back premier-class wins for
the first time since 2021. No longer a flight
of fancy. The idea of Marquez fighting for
this year's championship is a real one.
Winning on an anticlockwise layout,
in oddly demanding conditions, as he
did in Aragon, was one thing, but defeat
-
ing Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) in
a straight duel on the Italian's favorite
track, was another, even if the reigning
champ still carried a stiff neck from his
painful Aragon spill seven days prior.
While there was an element of for-
tune in the first part of Marquez's 61st
premier-class victory, the second was
all his own doing. Faced with Bagnaia
chasing him from behind, the 32-year-
old broke the challenge from behind
with a devastating late run, his fastest
lap on lap 20 swinging this in his favor.
For the first time in five years, Marquez
has been capable of fighting with the
best for three straight weekends.
Yet even Marquez acknowledged this
contest swung as the elements inter-
vened. Before lap seven, he was mired
MASTERY,
