‘It’s only Marquez being Marquez…’
Maybe the most penetrating comment in the continuing fall-out surrounding Argentina’s MarquezRossi clash was one of the simplest. That if Marquez hadn’t have done that, then he wouldn’t be Marquez. There is a corollary. That if Rossi hadn’t played his ‘aggrieved innocent’ game afterwards – all laughing charm and injured propriety – then he wouldn’t be Rossi.
In the same way, if he hadn’t have done something achingly similar to Sete Gibernau at Jerez (although by good fortune Sete didn’t crash), he wouldn’t be Rossi either.
This is to say nothing of the fact the he actually did knock Marquez off at Sepang in 2016. I note that he didn’t accuse himself of “destroying our sport” at that time – the accusation he is making of Marquez now. Rossi somehow gets away with playing both sides against one another and still emerges as not just the moral victor, but also takes 99 per cent of the sympathy vote. Marquez will probably escape punishment, but the booing of vociferous Rossi fans when he (as is inevitable) wins most of races will be redoubled. And Valentino will smile beatifically while admiring the sea of yellow, each garment another little ker-ching in his bank account.
It’s amazing how Rossi, at 39, can still find the motivation to be competitive. Yet his greater accomplishment is driven by charm. His public persona is flawless. He can’t put a foot wrong. In the commercialised world of MotoGP, it’s what makes him the champion even when the young pups beat him. Rossi has a lot of people singing in his chorus. Consider this from Italian racing Svengali Carlo Pernat (with high-level past involvement not only with Rossi but also Biaggi, Capirossi, Iannone and the two-stroke Aprilia effort). Pernat wrote on Italian website GPOne that Marquez had done “a really dishonourable thing. Now Marc has everyone against him and they are scared to be hit by him… Dorna should disqualify him for one race. If it doesn’t it will cast a shadow over the whole MotoGP championship.”
Really? I hereby urge the opposite: Marquez should be left to learn from his mistake. Rossi should cast his mind back to his own youthful transgressions. And the rest of us should celebrate that for all the PR speak and commercialisation, bike racing is as tough as it ever was, and should remain so.
‘Marquez should be left to learn from his mistake’