Giant step for Marc Márquez to be world champion again

BarcelonaA plot twist in the GP World Championship. The stars are aligning in favor of Marc Márquez, winner of the sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix on a day where everything went his way. First, he secured the pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix and then won the sprint race, a success that allowed him to regain the lead of the World Championship. And in the process, he saw his great rival, Jorge Martin, suffer a fall that will prevent him from competing tomorrow. If he manages the race well, then, he will be able to leave even further in the lead from the always dangerous Phillip Island circuit.

Jorge Martin's bad luck opens the doors of the World Championship to Márquez, now a great favorite to add his tenth crown. The Ducati Desmosedici GP26 rider started the sprint race very focused, even though Jorge Martin, who started fourth, quickly moved into second place. Behind him rode Àlex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26), Pedro Acosta, and the Italians Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzechi.

The overtakes between Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín brought much excitement to the sprint race, but on the eighth lap, Martín made a mistake, crashed, and ended up in the hospital. The rider from Madrid ended up with a fractured radius and further injuries to his arm. The world championship officials have announced that he will not be able to compete in the Grand Prix, although he was able to walk back to the circuit to speak with the press. "It hurts a lot, I lost control and couldn't pull my arm out," he said resignedly. In the coming hours, he will undergo more tests that will determine if he will miss more races in the coming weeks.

Marc Márquez was thus able to claim his ninth victory of the season in a 'sprint' race, with his brother Alex in second place. A perfect celebration at the Márquez home, then. The Italian Di Giannantonio finished third. Marc regains the lead in the general classification and now has a ten-point advantage over Martín and 50 over Marco Bezzecchi, who finished fourth.

Márquez prefers to be cautious

The Catalan is now the big favorite in a World Championship that began with a fall that caused him to undergo surgery. At the time, it seemed complicated that he could fight for the title, but the rider from Cervera has more lives than a cat. "First of all, I hope Jorge is okay, when you fall in the turn where he fell you are going at high speed, so we hope he is okay," he said at the end of the race. "Today it was evidenced that the fight to be champion exists and is there, we have overtaken each other many times," the rider from Cervera added cautiously. "This is a circuit where you go very fast. I saw that his bike was moving a lot and I decided to be ambitious and attack. Today was a day to go all out. Tomorrow's race will be different as it might rain. We will have to know how to manage the race and adapt to what happens," he added.