The MotoGP rider who never won the championship but became Marc Marquez’s Kryptonite at Honda

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Marc Marquez was largely untouchable during his stint at Honda. He won the championship in six of his first seven MotoGP seasons.

Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider to beat Marquez during that historic spell of dominance. Lorenzo takes great pride in being the only member of the ‘Fantastic Five’ (himself, Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner) to vanquish the other four.

But Marquez defeated Rossi to regain his crown a year later, and Yamaha fell away thereafter. Ducati and Andrea Dovizioso emerged as his primary challenger, though the gap kept growing between 2017 and 2019.

The Bologna brand wouldn’t wrestle the constructors’ title away from Honda until Marquez’s serious arm injury at the start of 2020. They have since become the sport’s dominant team, enabling them to snap up the Ant of Cervera for themselves.

Andrea Dovizioso taunted Marc Marquez after winning Austrian Grand Prix battle

After winning the Austrian Grand Prix last month, Marquez joked with Luigi Dall’Igna that it was roles reversed. He had lost out to the Desmosedici bikes at the Red Bull Ring numerous times.

Indeed, Ducati have only been beaten at the event once since 2017. That year, Marquez attempted a lunge on Dovizioso at the final corner, but went too deep.

That allowed the Italian to cut back underneath him and beat him to the finish line. Before he did so, Dovizioso gave Marquez a ‘dismissive flick of the hand’, in the words of TNT Sports commentator Gavin Emmett.

“Andrea Dovizioso – what success he had on a Ducati over the years here,” Emmett remembered. “Those great battles that he had with Marc Marquez.

“The flick of the hand from Dovi at that final corner was one of the funniest moments. It was a brilliant battle, it was just this nonchalant dismissive flick of the hand, ‘Try that on me, will you?’.

Colleague Sylvain Guintoli added: “I’ll tell you what, there are not many riders that beat Marc Marquez on a head-to-head like that.”

Emmett replied: “And he did it a few times, did Dovi.”

Andrea Dovizioso’s incredible last-lap record against Marc Marquez

As Emmett mentioned, this was one of several last-lap tussles between the two riders. Dovizioso may have never won a championship (he had to settle for 15 Grand Prix victories), but he was arguably Marquez’s Kryptonite in wheel-to-wheel situations.

The end of the Japanese GP that year was almost a replay as Marquez dived down the inside at the final corner but slid wide, clearing a path for Dovizioso to take the flag.

Marquez didn’t go quite so deep at the final corner of the 2018 Qatar GP, but Dovizioso prevailed again in the subsequent drag race to the finish line.

The Honda rider executed Dovizioso’s own switch-back trick against him to take victory in Thailand that year, but he lost the Lusail rematch later that year.

And when they renewed their rivalry in Spielberg, the Ducati star showed Marquez exactly how to pull off a last-gasp block pass to snatch the win.

Marquez has likened his brother Alex to Dovizioso, but he’s certainly found the Gresini rider a far easier target.

And while Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi has been aggressive against Marquez, he hasn’t found an answer for the canny 32-year-old’s racing prowess.