Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez was only able to claim 13 points over the entirety of the race weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, but Neil Hodgson has explained exactly why the Spaniard can take a lot of confidence away from it for his title charge.
The reigning world champion has been in stellar form since returning from an injury layoff at Mugello in May, securing a perfect weekend at the following round of racing in Hungary and then following it up with another Grand Prix rout in Brno.
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While the momentum looked to be in Marquez’s favour heading into the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, it was also apparent that the nature of the Assen TT Circuit would expose the lack of fitness that the Spaniard currently has following his injury troubles.
The ‘Cathedral of Speed’ features several high-speed direction changes along its 2.822-mile-long route, which forced Marquez to make his Ducati GP26 as wide as he possibly could as he was swamped by the competition heading into the difficult complexes of corners.
Still, MotoGP pundit Neil Hodgson is under the impression that Marquez can be very happy with claiming an average result at the circuit, due to the fact that he was able to score some sort of points haul in the first place.
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Neil Hodgson thinks Marc Marquez did well to secure a P7 at ‘bogey’ Assen TT Circuit
Speaking via the Gas It Out podcast, Hodgson began by noting how the ultra-competitive Marquez was far from happy with his respective P6 and P7 finishes in the Sprint race and Grand Prix at Assen. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a bad result.
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“He seemed grumpy after the race, which is a normal reaction because Marc is not used to finishing low down in a race,” the former Ducati World Superbikes rider said. “But, on Monday morning, he will have woken up and thought, ‘Wow, what a weekend that was.’
“If you think about it, that was a championship-winning weekend for Marc Marquez. He started the weekend 40 down, and he ended the weekend 40 down. They would have paid, before the weekend started, a lot of money [for that result].”
After his return from injury at the Italian Grand Prix, Marquez admitted that he now needs to settle for results akin to his P5 finish in the Mugello Sprint due to his lack of fitness. Still, every point matters in a championship battle.
“They knew it was going to be a bogey track for him,” Hodgson continued. “We knew it was going to be a bogey track for him; the rest of the riders he’s raced against knew it was going to be a bogey track for him, and it was.
“He’s not physically fit enough or strong enough to race on the limit around there, because of those fast changes of direction. You can’t do it with one and a half arms, and he proved it.”
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The MotoGP pundit then went on to assert that the result of one race weekend does not define the rest of Marquez’s season, noting that he took “a huge step forward” in his championship challenge at Assen despite the result.
“All in all, it was a very unspectacular weekend, but no one remembers what happens in Assen. All they remember is the name added to that beautiful silver trophy. That’s the only thing that matters, and Marquez took a huge step forward to add another one of his to it.”
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