They will be seen again at airports, at boarding gates, in the occasional hotel, in queues to rent cars, in the paddock corridors, but Marc Márquez and his group of friends, in fact, his technical team in the Repsol Hondathey separate, starting today, when MM93 A new life begins in the team of the missing person Fausto Gresiniat the command of the invincible Ducati.
All of this will happen after a very exciting and tense weekend, in which Márquez has been starring in one farewell after another, hundreds, thousands of photos with his family and the recognition of everyone, from Honda to Repsol, through his friends and for Alberto PuigTeam Manager of the Japanese team, whose farewell speech last Saturday caused a lot of tears from the eight-time champion, who had not cried since he had to deny, at the Palau Sant Jordi, that leaving had never been on his mind. to live in Andorra to pay less taxes.
day of tears
“It has been a weekend full of emotions and, although I tried to control my feelings, I have to admit that I got emotional and I broke down, at several moments,” Márquez commented yesterday to El Periódico before closing, at the World Cup gala. , 12+1 years of bonding with many of his best friends. “Saturday was a very special day, with the podium of the ‘sprint’ test, a very beautiful way to say goodbye. And, then, hundreds of hugs in the garage.”
Márquez has reluctantly left Honda. “I haven’t said goodbye to Honda, it’s just a ‘see you later’. I don’t want to close that door, well or any other. I haven’t done it in all these years and I’m not going to do it now either. Will be an error. And, yes, the conversations with Alberto (Puig) and with my lifelong factory have been in that direction, cordiality, tact and very good manners. I hope I have many years of sporting career left.
“It wasn’t a farewell, it was a ‘see you later’. The paths of Honda and Marc Márquez may come together again, yes. This team will survive without me”
New rider for the Gresini Ducati team
MM93 acknowledges, with the best of smiles and his usual sincerity, that the relationship has remained intact because “there has always been great respect for both parties.” The reason is none other than that both, Honda and Marc, believe, suspect, intuit that their paths can unite again. “What does it depend on? It depends on me giving gas on the track and that way more doors will open for me. Anyway, if we don’t get back together, let them take away our ‘bailao’. I sense that these that I leave will be the colors with which I will have gained the most. No matter how well I do, I doubt I can win six more titles.”
Although he has said it a thousand times, Márquez once again explained that the change from Honda to Ducati only has one objective, perfectly understandable. “Trying to enjoy the bike again, for the smile to return to my face, for things to come out naturally, to show my head in front, not to win a World Championship, far from it!, to be at the front again without anguish. There is no need to run. It is a new process that takes time. I appreciate the expectation, but I must be realistic. I haven’t won a race in more than two years, so there is no point in thinking beyond adapting to the bike and having fun on it again. “That’s the first game to be able to win again.”
Márquez recognizes that, despite being very well advised, previously by Emilio Alzamora and, now, by Jimmy Martínez, his new manager, the decision he has just made is personal, very personal. A decision that cost him a lot of tears this weekend, in Cheste, especially on Saturday afternoon when Alberto Puig, as El Periódico has learned, gave a masterful, intimate and sincere speech, where he recognized the pain of losing “the greatest”, but he encouraged the team to fight to get back on the MotoGP grid.
In 2023 it all started
“When you see tears in the eyes of Alberto (Puig) and in those of other members of my second family, of my team, and even of the Japanese bosses, you get emotional and your whole body moves and, yes, also You shed some tears. The truth is that I have always felt very loved at Repsol Honda and that is why we have not closed any doors for the future. And, yes, Alberto has been a very special person during these last few years and has given me a lot, a lot.
Needless to say, the gentleman from Cervera (Lleida) never thought when, in 2013, he signed for Repsol Honda MotoGP that he would have such a brilliant career, becoming a myth, a true legend. “This team gave me an unthinkable opportunity: to jump, directly, from Moto2 to the best MotoGP team. It’s true that you have to earn it. They saw something in me and gave me the opportunity. And that year, we broke all the records and took the championship as rookies. That 2013 was the inertia of everything that came after that, until 2020, everything was idyllic, perfect, unthinkable. COVID and my injuries changed everything. With or without me, this team will resurface, you’ll see.”
“The objective of this change is not to win titles, it is to recover my smile, to enjoy the track again. Only then will I be able to win races again”
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Márquez knows that it will be very difficult, but he is convinced that success comes if there is an “atmosphere, a special spirit, in the team. I wouldn’t know how to define it, but that spirit must mark everything because that atmosphere is produced when everyone, all the members of a team, from the mechanic who takes care of the tires to the last boss, work in the same direction and try to contribute to living and working. in a good mood”.
And finally, Márquez told what for him could be the basis for the success of his new experience with Ducati. “The main thing is to understand the bike. If you don’t understand the bike and don’t adapt to it, nothing will work. I have won a lot, yes, but riding the same bike in the same team. I have had records for three years of falls, operations, broken bones, and not winning. Not winning damages your confidence and yes, of course, I have many questions in my head, but I will not be able to answer them all in a day, a week, a month and, possibly, not even in a year.