VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P73
BY NEIL MORRISON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
B
arcelona came so close
to a double disaster. What
should have been a cel
-
ebration of home hero Alex Mar-
quez's (Gresini Ducati) brilliance
was overshadowed by two of
the biggest, ugliest crashes in
recent memory, casting a dark
cloud over the grand prix and
overshadowing a brilliant week
-
end for Fabio Di Giannantonio
(VR46 Ducati), who edged into
title contention.
Yet the Italian was the first
to admit that his triumph paled
in importance compared with
the conditions of both Marquez
and Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
soon after. Marquez dismounted
from his bike at sickening speed
after colliding with the back of
Pedro Acosta's Red Bull KTM
when Acosta's RC16 cut out
on the exit of turn nine due to a
reported electronics issue.
Not only was it miraculous
that Marquez avoided serious
contact with the trackside wall,
debris from his exploding Ducati
could also well have killed Di
Giannantonio, Zarco and Raul
Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
on the run to turn 10. Terrify
-
ing parallels could be drawn to
Franco Morbidelli's destroyed
machine nearly collecting Val-
entino Rossi in Austria in 2020.
The aftermath resembled a
plane wreck.
