Another rival of Marquez – AS.com

Szafnauer, Alpine’s team principal, already said it after Alonso’s brilliant season: “Age is catching up with us all.” But neither the American leader nor anyone else knows when that moment will come. However, MotoGP is entering an era where things are becoming much more complicated. The age of 30 is a key milestone between success and decline in the career of a racing driver who continues to compete in the World Championship. and it is Márquez, the rider who has dominated the premier class for the last decade, who faces the new year with anticipation of what he can do with Ducati at an age (31) when new generations usually trump experience.

Ilerdets went through all stages of his racing career, except for the finals. And although in this new season, while its adaptation to “Desmosedici” allows it, The goal is to win the title again after four years marked by injury in 2020 that halted almost all of his victories. (because with “one and a half hands”, as Puig said, he achieved podiums and victories), Mark had an additional opponent. The 30 year crisis revolves around the driver who will be the fourth youngest on the grid. as only Aleix (34), Zarco (33) and Nakagami (32) will surpass him.

Marquez’s seventh title marks a reversal of the trend that the top category has acquired, especially in the last three years, when his physique did not allow the man from Ilerda to fight for everything. The ages of the last three premier class champions ranged from 22 to 26 years old. Only Zarco (2023), Aleix Espargaro (2023 and 2022) and Andrea Dovizioso (2020) have achieved victory under this dominance for more than 30 years. And if there’s one thing you need to win the World Cup, besides consistency, it’s winning. Of the 387 registered in the entire MotoGP era, only 71 went into the hands of riders older than Marc. In total, it was possible to observe the exception, and not the rule, which Rossi violated with 18 races won. more times.

Rossi is the standard

Exactly The Italian was the only one in the entire MotoGP era to be crowned champion at the age of 30, and no one else has done so at 31 or older. Valentino’s last title, the ninth of his World Cup career, came in 2009 and although he came close again in 2015, his counter settled on the figure Marquez can achieve on the Ducati he is next to. his rivals again consider him their favorite. The man from Ilerda is more cautious: “I want to smile once again under the case.” And although he repeated it ad nauseam, he had already done it during his first contact with Desmosedici at the Valencia test. So now we need to move on.