As if you didn't already know, MotoGP riders are real animals! In a desperate battle against Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello, the young Repsol Honda ace Marc Marquez said that he, "nearly crashed in every corner."
"It was a great battle but this time I only enjoyed it when I passed the finish line because Jorge was so strong and I was pushing, nearly crashed in every corner," said Marc Marquez. "It was so difficult. We had some small contact which got my attention and after that we did a really nice battle and on the last lap I pushed to try to overtake at the end of the straight and open a small gap.”
Marc Marquez started from pole at Mugello, but a strong start from Jorge Lorenzo combined with some slight hesitation from Marquez instantly reversed the order. Lorenzo managed to hold on to his lead for the first 17 laps of the 23-lap race. What's more, a determined Valentino Rossi, who started from tenth, went into full attack mode and made quick work of the grid.
“When I saw on lap 4-5 that Valentino was already there, it was a little bit scary because it was only one-second and I knew he started tenth,” confessed Marquez. “I thought okay he will arrive. Then I saw that Jorge's rhythm was so good and it was so difficult to follow him. But I was pushing at 100 percent because I knew if he opened a gap [and broke the slipstream] then Valentino could catch me."
However, the momentum of the race shifted when Lorenzo clipped the grass on the 200 mph main straight, giving Marquez an opportunity to capitalize on Lorenzo's mistake. The next seven laps unraveled into one of the most exhilarating MotoGP dogfights of the season.
According to Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha's superior braking allowed him to catch Marquez by surprise with banzai corner maneuvers. However, Marquez always managed to fight back with a slightly higher top speed on the straights.
“But now I feel finally quite strong on braking. I couldn't fight with Marc in all the braking areas, but maybe 60 percent. Much more than last year. So we made a good step," said Loreno. "If we can go at 100 percent of the track we can finally fight with him on braking. That is what I've always wanted. For this reason I want to congratulate Yamaha for what they have done to improve the bike in braking. It has been hard but it seems that we found something.”
“I think victory will arrive soon, we have to keep pushing and stay very motivated to improve the bike and myself,” Lorenzo declared. “Next is Barcelona, my home race. I will have a lot of friends there and I will try to repeat this podium and if possible the first victory of the season.”
We must not forget that Barcelona Catalunya MotoGP is the home race for Spaniards Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa as well, so you definitely don't want to miss that. You don't want to miss the epic duel between Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo either. Enjoy the battle in the video below:
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