Riders often say to me things like, ‘Okay, at this moment, in that part of the corner, I am doing this, or that.’ But this is maybe one tenth of a second! So they are able to understand something and react in such a short time that’s impossible for us to understand
Marc makes the difference in corner entry – can you explain how he does this?
With electronics now the difference they can make is not in corner exit, because you can more or less open the throttle and the electronics do most of the job, so the difference is in what they can do in braking and entry.
In entry, Marc is able to enter fast and flick the bike very quick. Other riders do this but slower. Look at the way he overtakes – he’s able to go, whack, like that. [Rigamonti uses his hands to mimic Marc throwing the motorcycle on its side.] I remember Enea saying to me last year, ‘It’s impossible to overtake with these MotoGP bikes’, so I said, ‘Look at Márquez.’ So it’s also an attitude, plus it’s how you ride and much risk you want to take, because everything is related. But Marc’s good point is how he enters corners.
Marc has always liked his team to be like a gang, a family, joking around. How do you think this helps him?
I think this is related to his mentality, to not think about negative things that have happened, but to be positive and always think about what comes next. Also, staying all together and joking helps to remove stress, so I think this is part of his character.
When he eats dinner at the end of each day he always eats with his crew and it gets very noisy – laughing, joking…
There are some riders that have a lot of people around them outside the team at races – manager, girlfriend, other friends. The only person at races with Marc, apart from sometimes his girlfriend, is his assistant José [Luis Martinez], so for that reason it’s easier for him to stay with the team. But I think it’s also his character, to joke around and not always be serious. Okay, when we speak about our job we are serious, but during other parts of the day we can smile and joke.
Márquez leads fellow GP25 rider Bagnaia in Austria, on his way to another victory
Dorna/MotoGP
MotoGP bikes are quite tricky now, with the rear tyre pushing the front tyre and causing crashes. Can you explain this phenomenon?
For example, in Jerez [where Márquez crashed out on the third lap], Marc tried to overtake Pecco, then after two laps he decided to wait, stay behind and manage the first part of the race.