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/229152
INTERVIEW P54 RIDER OF THE YEAR: MARC MARQUEZ Marquez spun the MotoGP world upside down with his performance in his rookie season becoming the youngest-ever premier class champion. "I FEEL LUCKY TO BE SPANISH." Cervera is as good a place as any to grow up, if you want to be World Champion. The small town in the Catalunyan countryside about halfway to the mountains from Barcelona, is right in the heartland of Spain's motorcycling fraternity, and talent-spotted young riders get the sort of backing riders from other parts of the world can only wonder at. Marc Marquez was born there on February 7, 1993, his Moto3 racewinning brother Alex three years later, to a solid working-class family. Mother Roser works in an office, father Julian (Juliá in Catalan) is a highly skilled crane/digger operator. He is (he rather shyly admits) pretty famous in his circles, getting called in for the more difficult and delicate jobs, suggesting a source for his sons' motor skills. "Anyone can operate one," he says. "But to actually work with one is different. Like a motorcycle – easy to ride, but hard to ride to the limit." He was a motorcyclist, but not a road racer, more interested in motocross. Both boys accompanied him on flag-marshal duties, and then, "when he was five Marc said: 'I want a motorcycle.' And life changed. It was completely Marc's enthusiasm, his idea." Juliá was careful not to become Motocross Dad, never pushing him. "I told him, this is your toy… play with it." Marc rode motocross and dirt track, but road racing was too expensive. Until he was spotted, eight years old, at a minimoto track by Guim Roda, now heading the Kawasaki World Superbike team. Progress was rapid, talent will out. "When he was 11 he was riding a full GP RS125 Honda," recalls Juliá. "We had to cut the tank shorter so he could reach the bars. Three cuts. With his light weight, he was going pretty fast on the RS125. It was frightening for the family." Marc is fully cognizant of the privi- leges of geography. "I feel lucky to be Spanish. For example, when I was eight years old maybe I would have been in motocross, because my father didn't have a lot of money. The Spanish and Catalan federation work a lot in the base, with guides to help you start with the bike. They pay something, and make it cheaper for the fathers. This is very important. That is the biggest reason for so many Spanish riders in the championship." At 12, he came under the care of 1999 125cc World Champion Emilio Alzamora, and the partnership was to be devastatingly successful. "When I explained to him things about riding, about how to do the corners, I spoke not with a guy of 12 years, but 25 years." Alzamora has been by his side ever since, but Julian points out: "There are a lot of people in Spain who understand racing and who could