Pecco Bagnaia: MotoGP’s rising Italian star
A couple of days after his first MotoGP victory in 2015, Marc Marquez was interviewed by Italian paper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The headline was typical: “The new Italian star: Marc Marquez is a true Italian and will win everything”. Marquez, 20, is one of the rising stars of the sport. Last year in the season opener, he was one of eight riders in the top ten. His biggest achievement is the first MotoGP victory in his first attempt. To ride for the second best team is a coup.
Marquez joined Ducati in 2012. He worked his way up from Moto3 to Moto2, where Ducati bought him, and the talented boy went from one of the best teams in the world to another. He worked on his bike and on the team and it was a step forward for MotoGP. What Marquez is doing now is quite incredible. It may be his first victory, but this is not just a race victory. Marquez went to Honda in 2013 and got a factory bike and he dominated the premier class all year. Honda went out of business three months after the season ended.
The first season of Ducati didn’t go too well for Yamaha. A year later it looked like MotoGP, thanks to Valentino Rossi, would be turning into a Moto2 affair again after 20 years. Rossi was the first rider to win both the premier and the Moto3 titles and was the closest to Marquez without having a factory bike. They would have a four year rivalry with Yamaha, and Rossi would win five races. Unfortunately the factory did not return to the premier class and Yamaha won three races in 2014. Marquez took his first premier class win in France, and Yamaha started winning races again, especially in the final weeks. On the last day Yamaha would lose to Aruba. This loss helped the team to finish seventh in the constructors, while Marquez won the title. Marquez didn’t win many