Marc Márquez regains leadership at the French GP: “It’s racing. Some overtake on the straights, others on the corners.”

He has just returned from a month and a half break with a broken right thumb and Marc Márquez already has all the headlights of the MotoGP World Championship in his hands at the French GP. As if nothing had happened, the Honda driver slipped into the front row of the grid at Le Mans (the race, this Sunday: at 2:00 p.m., on DAZN) with new evidence of fighting spirit and mischief. Taking the wheel in his hands, a strategy increasingly blamed on him by his competitors but which he never hid, the man from Cervera took second place behind Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati. Next she was joined by the great trailblazer and leader of the competition in an exciting ‘sprint’ race.

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Ironically, the reigning world champion Italians criticized the cat-and-mouse game with which Márquez overcomes the rhythm problems of his mount on Friday. “We all know the speed he has. Everyone has their own strategy, but taking the wheel takes it to another level. If you stop and put your foot on the ground, it does the same. I don’t know why he’s doing that,” said the number one, who angrily celebrated pole position and raised his fist. In Saturday’s race, the two engaged in a tense firefight that saw the Ilerdense man get in the head of the number one. “Marc passed me very aggressively and I lost several positions,” complained the Italian in Parc Fermé, without anyone asking him about it. Despite the fact that he managed to return the game with power and composure and climb onto the podium, the Ducati post was disrupted by a touch from Márquez.

In the middle of the choppy river both winner Jorge Martín of Madrid and Brad Binder, second after another outstanding comeback from tenth place, caught fish. The 93rd, with an unexpected but ultimately insufficient pace, was content with fifth place behind Luca Marini, brother of Valentino Rossi. “I was going fast, but I didn’t feel the motorcycle,” Márquez said of his feelings on Friday via the DAZN microphones. “Today, with the same bike, exactly the same, it seemed different. And I was, so many days at home are noticeable and little by little I’ve gained confidence,” he added, after not having a single road bike in seven weeks.

Because of that lack of tact, and because of testing the new Kalex chassis, an outside supplier that seems to give the Hondas a glimmer of hope in terms of rhythm and stability, the Cerveran man fell twice enough in practice. “Everything helps,” he confirmed with a sincere smile. However, he was able to sneak into the top ten to fight for pole position and was again in search of the fastest bike. Realizing the World Championship, very attentive, caught the angry reaction of Davide Tardozzi, director of the Ducati team, when they saw on screen a scare from the Catalan with Aleix Espargaró’s Aprilia, which he almost collided with .

His presence and ruthlessness on the track have made some nervous on the tarmac, but the eight-time world champion is closed to criticism, at least from the outside. Márquez started the weekend with a message to his most important enemies. “The easy thing is to hit someone when they’re on the ground. “You have to accept it, be calm and keep working,” he said of the criticism leveled after his attack on Miguel Oliveira at the Portuguese GP, where he started with pole position and a podium finish in the “sprint” before he retired due to a bump and injuries in the long race. “Nobody can talk too much because in the next race if you throw shit at another driver, that can happen to you… Sometimes we push our limits and make mistakes.”

In this way, Márquez closed Saturday with another candid message, this time addressed to the current world champion. “This is racing. “Some overtake on the straights, others in the corners,” fired the only driver in the field, who went above and beyond the prevailing good mood. With 12 points and 82 adrift of the championship leader after missing three grands prix, he doesn’t lack the confidence to give it his all. Competitors, who know him only too well, are watching with interest to see how far he can take the Honda this Sunday.

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