I’ve done this once before, and it’s only fair that I pay tribute to the wonderful Grace Robertson, one of the best football writers in the country, for her work which inspired this piece. The foundation of it all wouldn’t be doable without her. Please, check out her work and Subscribe to her Substack here, she’s well worth your time and money. And of course, trans rights, are human rights. 🏳️⚧️
“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called ‘The Pledge’. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn’t.
The second act is called ‘The Turn’. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call ‘The Prestige’.” — The Prestige (2006, Christopher Nolan)
Marc Marquez has returned to the promised land. He is a nine-time World Champion, with his seventh title in the Premier Class of MotoGP. For me, a long-time Marquez admirer and someone who at many, many points of his career thought this was never doable again, it not only cements him as the greatest rider of his generation, but the greatest of all-time. But like any great magic trick, it’s the journey we took to get there and the story told, which for me, makes him so special.
The Pledge
“He was beautiful. He is the point of difference. He has always been the point of difference. Unparalleled. And maybe today there will, of course, always be those who argue, always be those who debate.
The first sign I thought Marquez was special was the first time many did – Estoril 2010, in the final days of the 125cc class. After two modest seasons to start his World Championship career, in 2010. Everything clicked. A five race winning streak, backed up by another three-of-a-kind as Marquez was title favourite with two races left. But on a rain-affected restart, Marquez crashes on his sighting lap. The paddock scrambles to fix the damage with Marquez just able to join after the formation lap starts, sending him to the back of the grid.
Marquez went from 17th to 5th by Turn 2 and would win the race on the final lap over Nico Terol. A fourth place in Valencia two weeks later would seal Marquez’s first world title, in a field that had future stars littered in it – Terol, Espargaro, Zarco, Rabat and Folger to name a few.
The step-up to Moto2 was also filled with promise, but also treacherous setbacks. Marc’s speed at times, spectacular. A win in his fourth start at Le Mans, the first of seven for the season, a feat only Raul Fernandez has ever matched as a rookie. But a late collapse thwarted an unthinkable double. A huge accident of Marquez’s doing with Ratthapark Wilairot led to a back of the grid start that saw Marquez recover to third. But a horrible accident next to a burst water main in Sepang led to Marquez withdrawing from the rest of the season due to vertical diplopia. He was lucky to be able to see again, yet alone to race a bike.
He came back in 2012, and dominated. Nine wins, including another famous victory in Valencia, when he had to recover from the back of the grid again after another reckless crash in Qualifying. Come rain or shine, Marquez was raw, and arguably dangerous, but also unquestionably quick. And when Casey Stoner shocked the world by retiring in 2012 at just 27 years of age, Marquez got the call up to ride for Repsol Honda immediately, with Dorna bending the rules to accommodate a 20-year old rookie racing for a factory MotoGP team.
We knew by now that Marquez was good. But he walked into the most stacked era for MotoGP talent ever, and wrecked house. Back then, only four bikes were truly capable of winning between Honda and Yamaha’s factories, but the other three of them were owned by Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. Three of the 12 greatest MotoGP riders arguably ever. All of them Hall of Famer’s by Dorna’s new criteria, and Rossi, arguably the greatest ever. Marc won his second ever start in Austin, the Circuit of the Americas he’d soon call his own, and only finished off the podium twice – Two crashes at Mugello, one of which just left a scratch after jumping off his bike at 200mph, and a shock DQ in Australia after tyre concerns and miscommunication led to Marc going one lap too long on a stint. Despite Jorge winning five of the final seven, Marc clung on to become MotoGP’s youngest ever Premier Class Champion.
Little did we know it was just the second chapter of what would become the Marquez era. Six world championships in his first seven years in the top class, and so many highlights. 2014 and opening the season with 10 consecutive wins, the first of its kind since Repsol Honda’s last superstar, Mick Doohan. The antagonist on an uncompetitive Honda in 2015 as tensions between him and his hero Valentino Rossi boiled over via lies, conspiracy, and an intentional crashout in Malaysia. Bouncing back to win again in 2016 as Yamaha fell apart, and then stifling the new rising threat in Ducati and Andrea Dovizioso’s breakthrough Desmo.
You could toss a coin between 2014 and 2019 for Marquez’s true masterpiece seasons. 2014 was the Premier Class’ first 13-win season, an all-time mark. 2019, Marc’s floor was finishing second, of which he finished 19 out of 20 races there, with 12 wins and a series points record.
Marc was speedrunning his way to GOAT status. Until everything changed at the turn of the decade.
The Turn
“And the debate could rage on if you like… But as he falls in love with the object in the world that his heart most desired, it is hard to escape the supposition that he has rendered himself today…”
2020. The world is forever changed due to COVID-19. The sport adapts and starts its season in Jerez. A classic Marquez knife edge ride drops him to 16th early on, but through sheer pace, he passes everyone back up to 2nd and is chasing down Fabio Quartararo for the lead. But then a wheel goes on the paint, a huge highside puts Marquez in the gravel with a broken arm. Little did we know that it would derail the next four years of Marquez’s career.
I don’t like the “Aliens” moniker that MotoGP embraced to describe their riders. “Gladiators” would probably be a better fit. It’s the only sport in the world where its best breaks an arm, gets it operated on the same night, and then tries to ride on it again five days later. It was stupid. Marc was desperate to try and save what was still a 13-race Championship. Honda, having so much faith in Marc he signed a $100m contract, let him try when they really should have intervened. The outcome? A withdrawal of the entire 2020 season and two more surgeries, one to fix the plate breaking when Marc opened a window in his house, the other when the bone graft used to fix it got infected.
Marc didn’t come back until Round 3 of 2021, and even then, times were rough. There were still triumphs, like his win at the Sachsenring, but Honda’s development had become a mess in his absence. Mismanagement of Alex Marquez being one and done with the factory, Pol Espargaro not working out as Marc’s new teammate after Jorge Lorenzo shock retired from out of nowhere. A bike that now rode on the edge of disaster that not even Marc could control it anymore. 22 crashes in 14 races before taking the final two races off to heal completely for 2022.
Then a huge highside in Mandalika led to a return of diplopia in his eye. Then six more races missed after finding out his right arm hadn’t healed correctly, and a fourth major surgery at the world-famous Mayo Clinic to rotate his humerus 30 degrees back into place. Despite all that, a pole position in Japan and his 100th GP podium in Australia upon his return.
But 2023 was the final straw. Marquez risked it all coming back. He told his Grandad he’d retire if the fourth surgery didn’t work. But Honda’s decline into disaster was complete, and Marc didn’t score a point at a GP until Austria. An infamous 6-crash weekend and a broken thumb in his 11-win conquering Germany was the final straw. Marquez had to leave Honda, and $25m on the table, to head to Gresini’s Ducati, just to see if he could win again. Marc was in tears as he made his announcement. He had to escape the team that gave him everything, from the joys and obsession with winning, to the decline, and pain that had become synonymous with him in the 2020’s.
Even if Marc could make the move, what would he be after four years of sporadic riding and debilitating injuries?
The Prestige
…The greatest of all time.”
There was a sign. Wasn’t even a subtle one. Valencia. The world was watching by the garage of Marquez on his first Ducati test. A dark blue, testing Ducati GP23. Marc does his first run in front of the world’s press. He gets back to the garage, he turns to new crew chief Frankie Carchedi, and he smiles widely. We should have known.
Marc took a little while to find his footing, his muscle memory had faded from his Honda days, and he had to get used to a Ducati that made its time on rear grip instead of the Honda’s front tire. But those signs were there. Briefly leading at COTA before his brakes jammed, and a Sprint podium in Portugal. We’d have to wait till Aragon, a track heavily affected by rain, and Marc, despite being on a bike many reckoned was as much as four tenths a lap off the latest machinery, Marc dominated to take his first win in 1,043 days. And with his hardline stance he wouldn’t ride a customer Ducati again, a bike he’d ridden for free just to prove to himself he could – He earned himself the factory ride he deserved as Jorge Martin bolted to Aprilia.
And that brings us here. A season of total dominance. One of Marc’s greatest years. We’re only 17 rounds in, and despite that, 10 Double GP victories, 8 pole positions and a complete and total beating of the field. A new era of top talent had emerged in Marquez’s relative absence. Fabio Quartararo becoming Yamaha’s strongest soldier, Pecco Bagnaia becoming one of Ducati’s most important riders as they finally reached the promised land. Jorge Martin breaking out on his own and beating the factory at their own game. Marco Bezzecchi being maybe the last major star of the VR46 academy. But Marc has destroyed them all and has at times, made it look easy.
Yes, you could make a case that this is Marc finally being on the best bike for the first time in maybe 11 years, an argument that’s irked dominant F1 drivers for years to this day. But even then – Many still believe the easier rideability of last year’s GP24 makes it the ticket. And with the struggles of Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio, there’s a case you can make there too.
But beyond that, it’s the nature of his comeback. For me, it’s one of the very best in the history of sports. I know some mentioned Mick Doohan, who nearly lost a leg twice due to horror crashes in the more dangerous 90’s era. But even the man himself admitted Marc is a “different breed”. Niki Lauda’s is the one that leaps off the page – Read his last rites on the operating table as the hospital desperately tried to clear his lungs of ash, and was back in the car six weeks after scars and burns to the head, losing most of his ear and nearly dying due to toxic gasses. I can’t quite get there due to the quick recovery, but Marc’s longevity matters here.
Four surgeries on an arm that will never be 100% again, and a scar that is still startling to look at half a decade later. Two counts of dipalopa, either potentially career-ending. Five years of hard work, determination and recovery with the sole pursuit of wanting to win again, as the sport literally changed around him. Walking away from the team of his dreams, leaving life-changing money on the table, riding for free, moving out of the family home and settling down with a partner… It’s one of sports greatest stories, one to put alongside many of the most dramatic, scary and brave. It’s a story of people as much as it is about numbers – Being able to hug his brother, a huge part of the stability that Marc has needed growing up. His Honda team being amongst the first to congratulate him, a massive part of his career, and the Gresini team, who he’s celebrated so much of his new success with.
But don’t get it twisted, those numbers so many have forced into contemplation are worth mentioning. 99 career wins, 9 world championships to match Valentino, alongside seven in the top flight. 74 pole positions, 72 fastest laps, 15 sprint wins, now with two manufacturers, and major scalps against four Hall of Famers and one “Legend” – Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Pecco Bagnaia. It’s a resume that holds up against anyone in the sport’s history. He’s still the youngest ever World Champion and now somehow the fifth oldest, and just the seventh to do so over the age of 30, somehow a mere 2,184 days apart, the first rider to ever win a world title after a five year hiatus. And barring a collapse, he’s going to shatter all the points records for a single-season, including margin of victory, and maybe individual wins too.
I’ve seen enough. Marc Marquez has written two chapters of this sport’s history via blood, sweat and tears. He doesn’t have the raw popularity or charisma that Valentino Rossi had when he put the sport on his back in the early 2000’s. But he’s rewritten the rules on how to ride a bike that everyone has incorporated into their games. He has superhuman saves and elements of his riding style where he is a legitimate 1-of-1. But he now has the sport’s greatest comeback and dominance in two eras and two bikes to add as feathers to his cap. He is the past, the present and the future of the sport all rolled into one.
He’s a Usain Bolt. A Ronnie O’Sullivan. A Michael Jordan. A Lionel Messi. A genuine sporting unicorn and not just one of MotoGP’s greatest, one of Motorsport’s greatest, ever.
Marc Marquez is the greatest of all-time. And we’re very lucky to still have him here.
