The trout has been turned in four months. From being the 17th MotoGP rider in 2022 to entering the group of fastest riders, being the best Spaniard in the pre-season and being 7th out of 22 in the queen cylinder. Àlex Márquez (26 years old) has sweetened his life as a rider with the change of mount from Honda to Ducati. From suffering and agony with an unapproachable motorcycle to excitement and hope with Gresini’s Desmosedici. “I’ve changed a Casio for a Rolex”, explains the Cervera pilot half-jokingly half-seriously to La Vanguardia in a meeting in Madrid.
Àlex Márquez, who is facing his fourth season in MotoGP, is experiencing an emotional rebirth, “a bit like returning to Moto2”, riding a Ducati that has allowed him to recover forgotten sensations. “I feel liberated, with more peace of mind, without limitations to improve, with new tools to do so”, he explains. “I want to close my doubts, to prove to myself that I haven’t forgotten to go fast. I don’t have to keep my mouth shut”, confesses the pilot, two-time world champion in Moto2 and Moto3, something that few MotoGP rivals can say.
For the first time in his career Àlex Márquez is no longer under the protection of the golden wing, his brother and Emilio Alzamora, who was his manager until August 2022. Now he flies alone, without Marco next door. “I feel pretty much the same. It’s true that we shared a lot and that Marc had a lot of influence at Honda, and it’s true that I was a little afraid to leave my comfort zone; but it has also helped me to become more mature. It’s been like going from living at home to becoming emancipated: Honda was a place I knew and Ducati represents a new philosophy… And with Marc by your side it’s inevitable that they’ll put pressure on you.”
Having been the seventh best driver of the 22 in the pre-season encourages him to dream in his fourth year in the senior class. His challenge: “Finishing in the top 7-8 for a first year with Ducati would be good… If we are good in the opening four races, it will be a good year. I think I can be a cover-up. Being at Ducati, where we have eight bikes, in a satellite team, without the need to be testing things, and dedicating more to myself, can help me”.
Àlex Márquez, who moved from Cervera to Madrid, where he continues to live with his brother, has been an exceptional witness to the resurrection of 1993. “Marc has gotten rid of the physical pain, that feeling of not being at ease , like when you’re sick. He’s back to being Marc from before,” Àlex Márquez confesses to this newspaper.
The Gresini pilot, who lived closer than anyone to his brother’s pain due to the arm injury and temporary loss of vision, has no doubts: “Marc is the favorite, after 21 races he is the best ; remains the most complete in all conditions and all circuits. But to fight you also have to have the weapons [a good motorcycle], because if you don’t in the end you will lick”.
It is one of the reflections that Àlex Márquez shared with a group of journalists in Madrid at an event organized by Estrella Galicia, his sponsor, eight days before the first race of the World Cup in Portimão; an appointment for which Pecco Bagnaia, the fastest of the pre-season, sees favorites to win; Fabio Quartararo, and Jorge Martín. “And Marc too; all four”.
Despite the fact that the performances of the new – oldRepsol Honda were not very encouraging in the tests, with a very discreet 14th position, 8 tenths of a second from Bagnaia, Àlex Márquez is convinced that his brother will fight for the championship. “I see three drivers: Pecco, Fabio and Marc”.
But wasn’t he a little optimistic in 93 after the tests? “The pre-season doesn’t give points”, he replies, and tells an anecdote about his brother’s faith: “After the tests I said to him: ‘Me, in the sprint race, fifth’. And he answered me: ‘Think you’ll be sixth because I’ll be fifth’. In pre-season there are those who keep cards. He controls the risks”.
