It would have been difficult to imagine at the beginning of the year a headline like this for the preview of the Dutch GP: “Martín goes for a note in Assen and Márquez to suffer the Honda.” From the outset, the one who usually opens the headlines is the eight-time champion and also the one who used to go for the note on arrival at the appointment on duty. Now, however, it is Martinator in which the Spanish fan must trust the most so that the anthem is heard this weekend in the queen class and the Catalan, on the other hand, is a coin tossed without being clear if it will come up heads or tails.
That the Repsol Honda rider has decided to race in Assen is already an important novelty, because last Sunday he opted to withdraw from the German GP after accumulating five crashes in two days. The first came on Friday afternoon, in P2, the second in Q1, the third and fourth in Q2 on Saturday and the fifth in the warm up on Sunday morning. With that scenario, normal and intelligent, he did not choose to start the race, not because of the small fracture suffered in the thumb of his left hand, which did not prevent him from receiving the medical OK to run, but because he was not ready to emotional level after so much stick as it occurred because of a motorcycle that betrays him to the minimum. Marc got fed up there with the Honda, a bike he doesn’t trust and to which he gave a blow on Friday at the Sachsenring after having a big fright in the form of a whiplash. The philosophy of this trip is to collect information so that the Honda engineers can evolve the bike this summer. It sounds utopian, but for trying to make it not stay, let’s see if the golden wing will react at once.
On Saturday, on the other hand, he did go out in a sprint in which he let himself go, as he himself admitted later, to finish eleventh, the place that really belongs to that RC213V at the moment. Unusual with the eight-time champion being fit, but understandable, and that he clashes head-on with his performance at Le Mans not so long ago. At that French GP in mid-May, Marc fell at the end of the race fighting with a Martin who is now in a state of grace, because he has just scored six consecutive podiums, signing a double at Sachsenring that he had never signed to date .
That was 37 points out of a possible 37 points for the man from Madrid and, what is better, the shout out to the whole world and especially to those responsible for Ducati that this year is about to fight for the title. Almost more important than the victory was the form and against whom, because he beat Bagnaia by only 64 thousandths and after containing the current champion’s drive until the very finish line. Pecco continues to lead by a considerable difference, but the Prima Pramac satellite pilot came within 24 points of him in Germany and the Netherlands will do so only 16, so beating him again would bring him closer to the lead and would send his rival on vacation certainly worried.
Having said all that, the two Ducatis in the top two overall are not the only ones to watch out for this weekend, because last Sunday the eight on the track finished in the top nine. The devastation of the Borgo Panigale motorcycles to the competition is amazing. And we will also have to be attentive to what the Aprilia riders can do, because last year Aleix made the comeback of his life on this track and Maverick was on the podium. The KTMs, of course, are expected to continue to put up a fight. Little is expected of the Yamaha at this point seeing their latest results. And at Honda it will be interesting to see Lekuona replacing the injured Mir again. Rins, who has a long way to go with his tibia and fibula fracture, will be replaced by the Honda tester, a Bradl who is widely seen as not being as useful as Pedrosa in the role of KTM tester.