Marc Márquez takes out the calculator

BarcelonaMarc Márquez arrived at the MotoGP in Austria as the World Championship leader and leaves with a 13-point deficit. Seen this way, it is bad news for the champion from Cervera. But taking into account how the weekend has gone, it feels like he already considers it a good result. Márquez was second in the sprint race and had to settle for fifth place in a long race where he was one step away from crashing. Jorge Martín is the new leader of the championship after a Grand Prix that saw Pedro Acosta's first victory in the premier class.

Fifth on the starting grid, Marc Márquez had no chance of victory. Unlike other races, where he could manage the tires and attack at the end, he kept losing time to Jorge Martín and Pedro Acosta, the two riders who ended up fighting for the win. Márquez did not feel comfortable and could only aspire to fourth position, but a mistake braking on the finish straight penalized him. He miraculously saved the crash but wore out his tires and lost time (and confidence).

Aware that the most important thing was to cross the finish line, the rider from Cervera took out his calculator and decided it wasn't worth attacking. Above all, because at the front of the race Pedro Acosta had taken the lead and his rival, Martín, would not score all the possible points either. Márquez fell to seventh place although he ended up climbing to fifth with two easy overtakes. Afterwards, he considered that it was no longer worth risking more.

Jorge Martín, who won on Saturday and was second this Sunday, crossed the checkered flag as happy as a clam. The good weekend is a magnificent dose of confidence for a rider who was starting to feel the pressure. Now he is the leader, with a 12-point advantage. But there are still seven Grands Prix left. That's 259 points at stake. A whole world.

The one who really celebrated was Pedro Acosta, who incomprehensibly let victory slip away on Saturday when he was leading the sprint. This Sunday he didn't let himself be fooled and the KTM rider, who was competing at the brand's home race, took first place before the halfway point of the race and never lost the position. He celebrated the triumph with fury. The first victory is always special.