WHY MARQUEZ CAN WHY MARQUEZ CAN’T
Super consistency
It’s not just a ferocious will to win and spellbinding talent that makes Marquez such a daunting adversary. Consistency has become his most potent weapon. Of his last 28 finishes, 27 have been inside the top two. Absurdly last year he amassed 65 more points on his lonesome than HRC teammates Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo mustered between them in the whole of 2017, ’18 and ’19!
No pain, no gain
A frequent flyer into global gravel traps, Marquez has crashed 120 times in seven years in MotoGP. But he has an uncanny knack of finding the limit on Friday and Saturday, and that crash tally might be trebled were it not for his lightning reactions and reflexes that allow him to make such frequent gravitydefying saves. Just 12 of those 120 crashes have been in races, showing how much he gets the tumbling out of the way pre-Sunday.
Man for all seasons
A key asset is his speed and confidence in a wide range of scenarios. Dry, wet, damp, hot, or cold and Marquez is invariably in the top three. Not only did he win the most races last season but he topped the most practice sessions, set the most poles and was fastest in the most warm-ups.
No fear jack-of-all trades
In an era of spec tyres and electronics where the perfect set-up doesn’t exist, Marquez has an incredible ability to improvise and ride around problems with his all-action style. But it’s perhaps the coldblooded aggressive approach that makes Marquez so intimidating. He is an impulsive and instinctive rider and fear and risk are words banished from his vocabulary. He can annihilate the opposition with crushing start-to-finish victories or he can sit in a pack and then attack like a vulture.
No retreat, no surrender
His refusal to accept defeat means you never see him limp home in seventh place. Four of his six losses last year in Qatar, Mugello, Austria and Silverstone were inflicted inches from the finish line and by less than 0.1s.
Shoulder the burden
For the second season in a row, Marquez heads to Qatar not fully fit, and off the back of a physically and mentally draining rehabilitation from yet more major invasive shoulder surgery. This time it’s the right shoulder that’s required a rebuild and the recovery has been more complicated than anticipated.
Taming the beast
A lack of mobility and strength is not what you need to tame Honda’s notoriously unruly RC213V and looking at winter testing the lack of front end feel cursed by all who rode it last year has not been eradicated. If Marquez does retain his title it will have been done the hard way.
Brothers in arms
Having recently signed a unique fouryear contract extension with HRC, Marquez won’t have to worry about negotiations being a distraction. That’s not to say he won’t be distracted in 2020. His focus will be tested by the arrival of younger brother Alex as his teammate in Repsol Honda. Marquez has been at pains to deny that events on the opposite side of the garage will deflect his attention away from trying to capture a fifth successive title. But Alex is no ordinary teammate. He is kin, flesh and blood and only time will tell if Marquez can make it more professional than personal.
Heir to the throne?
A new star emerged in 2019 in the shape of rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo. We’ve had epic rivalries recently involving the likes of Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner and Simoncelli but Marquez versus Quartararo looks like being the next big conflict. Quartararo went toe-to-toe with Marquez in a few races last year and had his nose blooded, but now he’s got a full factory Yamaha at his disposal and will be much better prepared when engaging against Marquez in 2020. Not just one headache
Quartararo may well emerge as the biggest threat to Marquez, but it would be remiss to dismiss others with eyes on dethroning him. Andrea Dovizioso has been runner-up for the last three years and is determined to go one better. Maverick Vinales has been frighteningly fast in testing while Alex Rins looks Suzuki’s best bet to mount a serious title challenge since Kenny Roberts Junior in 2000.