How to Beat Marquez

Marc Marquez has won five of the last six MotoGP crowns and he is still getting faster. How to beat him? We asked Mick Doohan, Casey Stoner, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Gardner, and Christian Sarron how they would do it

No motorcycle racer is unbeatable, but marc marquez seems pretty much like that at the moment. the 25-year-old Spaniard is the youngest rider in history to have won five premier-class world titles, a record he took from Valentino rossi. He has won every motoGP crown since 2016 and with each passing year he is getting older and wiser and faster.

‘marc is now at a very high level; maybe, one or two steps ahead of the others, but I think he still has many things to learn and he still has another step to make,’ says his repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig.

marquez wins races and championships thanks to his willingness and his ability to push further beyond the limit than anyone else. His success doesn’t come from a machinery advantage, because the bikes have never been more equal.

Fellow Honda rc213V rider cal crutchlow knows this better than most. ‘All the bikes are very, very close; but marc, he’s a freak,’ says the Briton. ‘I’ve never saved a bike at 62 degrees of lean, 15 times a weekend! that doesn’t happen with anyone else — the marquez factor is very, very special.’

But just how special? Former world champions mick Doohan, casey Stoner, Freddie Spencer, Wayne rainey, Kenny roberts, Wayne Gardner, and christian Sarron all watch marquez with a certain amount of awe, but they all have an idea of how they would beat him…