Cycle News

VOL. 53 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 25, 2016 P119 already too fast for the others. He blazed to two titles with a win-or-crash style that more usually resulted in the former. In 2015, it went the other way, and he paid the price, the title going to the more consis- tent Lorenzo. It was an expen- sive way, he said at Motegi, to learn a valuable lesson. Steady scoring is a more reliable way of winning championships than flashing or crashing. In this way, his 2016 season has been that of, not a differ- ent rider, but certainly a much changed version of the same rider. He still has his special gifts— all reminiscent of the rider he displaced on all the "youngest- ever" lists that matter, the formerly "Fast Freddie" Spen- cer. These can be summed up succinctly: he can crash, with- out falling off. Not every time, anyway, and it is a technique he uses to locate the giddy limit with great precision. Until now, he has done this pretty much every time he goes out. In 2016 he changed (in one of his favorite phrases) "my mentality." He would push to and beyond the limit in prac- tice, always prepared to fall off, then pull back a bit in the races. He was "prepared to ac- cept coming second." It is the times he found the limit, went over it, and didn't fall off, that mark him out as the special one. He has added to his history of unbelievable saves several times this year— for example at Assen, when he locked the front at speed, was effectively more than halfway into a spectacular straight-line crash, but managed to regain control. It was so violent that the airbags in his leathers were triggered. Or another one at Brno. The front slipped away, and he was effectively down and sliding towards the gravel, for a long, long time. With elbow and knee he picked it up again, and did little more than run wide on the exit. It was not his first at the same circuit, and not his big- gest miracle either, in his own opinion. The slide was long, he allowed, but "but the angle of the bike was 67.5 degrees," he said. "In 2014 it was more than 68 degrees." I asked Rossi later that day if he could have saved it. He was full of amused admiration. Marquez could do it because of his position on the bike and his talent, he said. As for himself, "I go slower so I don't lose the front." Going slower, however, is not going to work when Marc is about. Especially the new grown-up version. So far this year, up to his title win, he had won five races, which is impressive enough. Lorenzo had won three, Rossi two. All on a bike that still has some shortcomings, and certainly started the year on the back foot, with clearly visible problems accelerating. More impressively, he is the only rider in the class to score points in every single race. Even on the one occasion he did crash, at Le Mans, he was able to get back and finish 13th. It is one of only four occasions that he was not on the podium. His predecessor in the "young genius" category, the marvelously talented Spen- cer, blazed bright but quickly burned out. In retrospect, there were warnings this might happen. Freddie had a his- tory of not turning up for tests, and such-like. It seems he had everything except sufficient obsession. A bit too human, perhaps. Marquez has shown no such signs so far. Looks like Rossi's time as successor to Hailwood as Greatest Of All Time might be short-lived. But I for one shall try not to expect it. CN

• Cover