Marco Bezzecchi
The whole world knew about Marc Marquez’s talents the moment he rocked up in MotoGP back in 2013. Honda hit the rider jackpot.
It took him two attempts to win his first race at the Circuit of the Americas before he went on to win a title in his rookie campaign.
Marquez has broken so many records over the last 13 years and is now in the conversation for being the greatest MotoGP rider of all time.
Even though he has moved on from Honda, it isn’t impossible that he decides to return to the team that he enjoyed so much success with one day.
Pol Espargaro knew about Marc Marquez long before some of his arch rivals did…
Marquez had a ‘special’ talent before his MotoGP debut, and was capable of using a ‘special’ braking technique.
After getting to know the Spaniard, Honda realised Marquez was easier to work with than Casey Stoner. He was a natural at the off-track stuff.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez would have raced against Casey Stoner in MotoGP if it wasn’t for one accident
Andrea Dovizioso ‘immediately’ changed his front-end approach after watching Marc Marquez
Although he was already a multiple champion by the time he hit 2017, the competition was just starting to stiffen.
Andrea Dovizioso taught Marquez an important lesson when they battled that year, and ever since, he has refused to underestimate his opponents.
Speaking about the Spaniard in Mat Oxley’s Marc The Magnificent biography, Dovizioso detailed how he had to change his approach after watching him for the first time.
“When Marc arrived in MotoGP, he opened up a new area for everybody, because nobody was locking the front or losing the front, nobody,” he said. “This opened the minds of the other riders, because we all wanted to improve. I saw immediately that I had to change my approach when I lost the front.
“Not, ‘I lost the front, we need to change the setup.’ but stay calm, try to feel the front better. This was not easy, but we were able to improve and play with that limit. But not quite like him.”
READ MORE: Carmelo Ezpeleta insists Marc Marquez winning almost every race is ‘positive’ for MotoGP
How did Andrea Dovizioso fare after learning from Marc Marquez in 2013?
2013 would actually end up being Dovizioso’s worst year with the factory Ducati outfit out of all eight of them.
Granted, it was his debut campaign following brief spells with Honda and Yamaha, but he would have expected more from himself after making the switch.
Whatever he learned from racing against Marquez paid dividends down the line, with three consecutive title pushes between 2017 and 2019.
Looking back, it’s a shame that Ducati’s package couldn’t quite match Honda’s at the time, because fans would have been in store for an incredible fight.
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