Cycle News

CN III IN THE PADDOCK P90 BY MICHAEL SCOTT ICING AND MELTDOWN FOR 2014 I do realize that only half the world is in the icy grip of winter, but there is an unavoidably frigid theme to the first column of 2014. Most especially as we get ourselves warmed up for the coming season in MotoGP, the first year of frozen engines – no development allowed after the first race. The time of year, whether hot or cold, means it is time to stop looking backwards at a year of Marc Marquez domination, time to look forward instead. To what? To another year of Marc Marquez domination, very probably, and likely to be the first of many. But this time it will have a different feeling. He's not a rookie any more, for one thing. And there are all sorts of other changes in the wind, for his rivals. Icing, meltdown, and more icing – the other kind, that goes on cakes. Most importantly, we shall have to see whether Jorge Lorenzo can maintain the icy calm that characterizes his personality and his riding. I have my doubts. Lorenzo has been a strong proponent of safe racing for a couple of years now, censuring Marco Simoncelli in a way that was unpopular at the time and made him something of a laughing stock, but that was horribly justified by subsequent events. Lorenzo had plenty of the same to say about Marquez last year, but his ire was directed against Race Direction, for its failure to discipline the young rider. As he kept reminding everyone, he used to be wild and dangerous and very much feared in his 125 and 250cc days, but he learned his lesson in 2005 when banned for a race. By the end of the season, however, after some obscure only half-humorous remarks at Malaysia, we saw the old Jorge "Round The Outside" Lorenzo back in action. He exchanged paint with Marquez at every opportunity. There had quite clearly been a major change of policy. The question for 2014 is whether Marquez's most credible rival will keep on the same way. Stand by for some roughhouse fun if he does, for Marquez is far from shy in this regard. The icing on the cake is for the youngster's put-upon Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. There's a big change for Pedrosa. His Svengali Alberto Puig has left the building. Pedrosa's entire career has been run under the tightest control of former racer and now general éminence grise Alberto. Bert, as nobody in the paddock calls him, is a big character, and as austere as a frozen cliff-face. He has guided and supported many a top rider, including Casey Stoner and a raft of high-level rookies from Spain and elsewhere. But Bert's regime is strict and humorless, much reflected in Pedrosa's own gloomy public persona, though those who know him well find a mischievous sense of humor that he generally

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