Round weekend of an irreducible Marc Márquez in Japan

BarcelonaThe most open MotoGP World Championship in years is knocking out many contenders and it seems it could be a duel between two men: Marc Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) and Jorge Martín (Aprilia RS-GP). Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) has had a perfect weekend, winning the Japanese Grand Prix at the 'Mobility Resort Motegi' circuit after having also triumphed on Saturday in the sprint race. Two victories to put pressure on the World Championship leader. Martin finished second and sees how the difference between the two in the general classification is cut to just two points with only six races left. The Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia RS-GP) is third.

The race arrived marked by the problems of a good handful of riders with the rear tires during Saturday's session. Both Martin and Bezzecchi had seen how these were wearing out too much, causing complaints from the teams. In fact, the organizers extended the pre-race warm-up session by 10 minutes, in order to give everyone time to test the new tires. And the result has been positive, benefiting the show.

Martin, after setting a new speed record for the Japanese circuit in the official practice sessions, defended the first position. And he maintained it at the start despite the attack by Márquez on the first straight. Márquez saw how Martin set the starting pace, while behind him Pedro Acosta (KTM RC 16) was struggling, overtaken by the Italian Enea Bastianini (KTM RC 16), the Japanese Ai Ogura (Aprilia RS-GP) and the Spaniard Raúl Fernández (Aprilia RS-GP). In just three laps, four riders stood out from the rest, Jorge Martín, Marc Márquez and Marco Bezzecchi. That is to say, the three men who lead the general classification.

Who had no options was the Catalan Alex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26), penalized with two 'long laps' for causing the crash on Saturday in the sprint of Pedro Acosta (KTM RC 16) and Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati Desmosedici GP26). Despite everything, the younger brother of the Márquez family had a good race until crashing to the ground with five laps to go.

Up front, Jorge Martín and Marc Márquez have been leaving behind a Marco Bezzecchi who has not been able to find a good competitive rhythm lately. The Italian, who had started the world championship strong, does not seem like the same person after suffering a fall a few months ago. And up front, Márquez waited until the eleventh lap to overtake Martín with a very risky move, quickly consolidating the first position with more than a second of advantage over Jorge Martín and more than 2.5 seconds over Marco Bezzecchi at the end of the race. The podium ended up like this. The fourth position went to Bastianini, who at times dreamed of overtaking Bezzecchi, who runs the risk of being ruled out of the fight to be world champion if he does not lift his head. Márquez, however, claims that he is still watching him and does not believe that the World Championship is a two-man race, yet. "Bezzecchi is totally in the fight and Jorge is in great shape. The three of us are opening up a gap, but there is a long way to go. We have been in good shape since Aragon, a pity about that Sunday in Austria," said Marc Márquez, in reference to the previous Grand Prix, where mechanical problems cut his rhythm.

The next stage of the World Championship will be in Indonesia, one of the latest circuits to join the calendar where the nine-time world champion, Márquez, has never finished until now. "It will be different this time," he has already warned.