After five weeks of summer break, MotoGP has come back turned like a sock. The world turned upside down: Àlex Márquez, a regular in the lower-middle class (14th, 16th and 17th in his previous three years in the premier class), wins the Silverstone Sprint race, while his brother Marc, the multi-time champion, finishes 18th, fifth from bottom, the second slowest driver on the track, running “in training mode”... Seeing is believing. The difference: the youngest of the Cervera brothers races with a Ducati; the eldest, with a Honda.
Àlex (27), after three acclimatization courses and troubles with Honda in MotoGP (the black leg Repsol and the LCR satellite), took the most decisive step in his career, the last job of his ex-manager Emilio Alzamora: signing by the Gresini team, Ducati's satellite. It was like an "emotional rebirth, a bit like going back to Moto2" -where he came out champion-, since the Italian motorcycle had allowed him to recover forgotten sensations as a rider: feeling fast, competitive, capable of winning again. Yes: win.
His first success with the Desmosedici came early, in the second round, Argentina: he took pole position, his first podium in the Sunday race and a 5th in the Sprint. "Better things can still come," said the one from Cervera in Termas, in April.
Five months and seven races later, something better came: his first victory with the Ducati, in the short race at Silverstone. “Yes, it's a Sprint win, but better this than nothing. It is the best way to start the second part of the season”, said Àlex, who with the 12 points from the victory climbed to 9th in the World Cup.
“And, also, with a first starting row (3rd in qualifying). I was convinced that today could be the day of my first victory”, commented the one from Gresini, who assaulted the lead that Bezzecchi had in the second of the 10 laps. “Since the third lap I have seen that he had very good traction and a very good feeling, and that he could win”, acknowledged the youngest of the Márquez.
On the dark side of the same coin, the eldest of the brothers, Marc, signed another unfortunate performance, to forget: 18th, his worst position of the year (finishing the race). He started 13th and only made him back down, without rhythm, with nothing to fight for.
His explanation to Dazn was bleak, coming from a multiple champion like him, in low hours: “In the Sprint I had no feeling, I didn't feel well, and I decided to wait for the other Hondas, do the race with them, and finish it. I ran in training mode -he admitted-, I turned to see where the people were, so that they all passed me, I found Mir and we did the race together until the end. It doesn't matter to finish 15th or 18th, the points are the same”.
Today, in the Sunday race (2:00 pm), Marc will have the chance to cross the finish line for the first time this season after three crashes and five absences.
