After Le Mans’ race, what we heard was: “That’s the best Honda Marquez ever rode”. Unfortunately, Dani Pedrosa is riding the same RC213V and despite being a top rider he is run aground in 5th position, a good 8 seconds behind his teammate. Moreover, it looks like Ducati and Yamaha did better than Honda on the Bugatti Circuit’s turns. But Marc Marquez is clearly the most talented rider nowadays (and maybe even compared to the past) and he is currently breaking the bank: he’s even with Casey Stoner as for the number of victories, with 38 each. Come on, whoever’s turn it is! Here you can find the French MotoGP race report and ranking.
LIEN – At the end of every GP there is always a good deal of chit-chat, and only a few remember to look at the MotoGP ranking, even though that’s the only thing that really matters. Marquez has 95 points, followed by Maverick Vinales with 59, Johann Zarco with 58, and Valentino Rossi with 56. Yamaha might be going through a crisis, but #46 got his second podium of the season and Johann Zarco could have given Marquez a hard time if he wasn’t in such a rush.
THE WORST MISTAKE – What about Ducati then? Certainly, it’s quite awkward that no red bike appears in any of the first 4 positions of the MotoGP ranking. Even stranger, the best one is Danilo Petrucci’s, the third official rider who is now 5th in the ranking. We should always remember that we are talking about the Desmosedici, the same bike that just a few months ago was fighting to take the World Championship from Marquez-Honda and managed to fight for it until the finish line. Andrea Dovizioso made a terrible mistake, and this might complicate the situation. After Jerez’s disaster, the only thing he really needed to do was avoid another 0. But right after overtaking Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea tumbled down. The Desmosedici had been developed with the clear intention of winning the 2018 World Championship, and the amazing success in Qatar allowed Ducati to have some dreams of glory. Instead, just 5 races after, Andrea Dovizioso is only 9th in the ranking and he is 49 points away from the top of the list. To add insult to injury, he had just been confirmed as the leading Ducati’s figure for the next two years.
THE ABYSS – So far, Marquez has been winning three races in a row in this MotoGP World Championships, including the one in Le Mans that he had only won once before, back in 2014. It will be extremely hard to make up for this gap, and this is probably an understatement. It’s too early to say that Dovi’s GP is past redemption because there are still 14 races to go. But this hasn’t been the beginning of the season Dovi and Ducati foresaw. Luckily, Mugello’s race is coming up and in two weeks Ducati will be competing at home.
