Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 12, 2013 but metronomic consistency at speed. Lap after lap with tenths of a second, inch-perfect lines. His other strength is his studious approach. Learn, practice, improve. The clearest example this year came in his starting technique. For the past couple of years nobody had been able to match lightweight Pedrosa off the line and into the corner. Until now. In the latter half of 2013, time and again, Lorenzo would be fastest off the line to lead the first lap, often taking a second or more out of the pursuit. "The new gearbox was not the only reason I won at Misano," he said. Even so, it was a rearguard action, and for the next couple of races the strength of the Hondas pushed Lorenzo's confidence to the maximum. Marquez caught and beat him at Aragon – on the way tagging the back of his teammates Repsol Honda, cutting a wire and disabling the traction control. Pedrosa crashed forthwith, and his title chances were effectively over. It was now clearly just the two of them, as they left Europe for the three-in-a-row flyaways. And barely the two of them. Marquez led by 39 points, with five races to go. Second in the rest of them would be more than good enough. Malaysia first, and Lorenzo showed a new side. All year he'd been critical of the authorities' leniency towards Marquez's contact racing, and Aragon had been another example. Now he had clearly decided to take advantage of that leniency himself… he bashed into the younger rider at least once as they battled over second behind runaway Pedrosa. But he couldn't hold him back. The gap grew by another four points. Mathematically, Marquez could have tied up the title a week later in Australia. But math was his downfall. A muddle in his pit signaling meant he missed the compulsory pit-stop window, and he was promptly disqualified. Lorenzo, meanwhile, had taken his first pole since the third race way back when. He was leading but under severe pressure from Marquez when the black flag ended the contest, and handed the older rider his sixth win of the year. He now had the same number of race wins as Marquez. A week later in Japan he added a seventh. Marquez was now clearly on the back foot at a race when all but the final afternoon of practice was lost to bad weather. Even before the weekend, when the forecasts were bleak, Lorenzo had said: "If conditions are bad, it could work in my favor." Sunday morning was dry and Marquez was working at finding the right settings in his first time at Motegi on a MotoGP bike when he fell again. Nothing broke, and he bounced back once more. But it was his 15th crash of the year – Lorenzo had recorded just three. And he was hurting. Again he chased Lorenzo P61 hard in the race, but when Jorge upped the pace he settled for second, preferring to count the points. It would go to the wire. Lorenzo had now won more races than him, and was within 13 points. He would need to win in Valencia, and for Marquez to finish lower than fourth – a tall order, since he had been on the rostrum at every other race so far. "All I can do is keep the pressure on," he said. He did that, and he won the race. Marquez let him go, and also Pedrosa, to finish third. He admitted, "I had to fight with myself a bit not to try to win." Contrary to appearances, however, Marquez is a very mature competitor, something that his mentor, former 125 champion Emilio Alzamora, remarked on some years ago. "When I met him he was still very young – but his approach to racing was like a much older rider, thinking about everything and knowing how to learn to improve." We have witnessed history in the making. We have also witnessed the potential start of the next era in MotoGP. But if Marquez does go on to win a string of championships, to dominate the sport like Hailwood, Agostini, Roberts, Spencer, Rainey, Doohan and Rossi, he will have to beat some worthy competitors. If I were you, I'd put money on him doing it. CN

• Cover