{"id":175522,"date":"2025-09-28T16:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T16:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175522\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T16:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T16:10:10","slug":"is-marc-marquez-the-goat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175522\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Marc M\u00e1rquez the GOAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMarc wants to show to himself that he\u2019s the fastest, not the best, because to be fastest is the only thing you can do yourself. It\u2019s the people who must say who\u2019s the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of Marc M\u00e1rquez<\/a>\u2019s mechanics talking, so who is the greatest motorcycle racer, now and of all time?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt M\u00e1rquez is the greatest rider of the moment, indeed of the last 13 seasons.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been making history ever since he arrived in the premier class: he is still the youngest MotoGP<\/a> king and now the fifth oldest, with the longest title-winning career of all time. Before M\u00e1rquez, the riders with the longest title-winning careers were Giacomo Agostini<\/a>, who won his last championships ten years after his first, and Valentino Rossi<\/a>, whose title-winning career lasted nine years. Marc\u2019s first and latest titles span 13 years and he\u2019s probably not done yet.<\/p>\n

Is M\u00e1rquez the GOAT? Like his mechanic says, that\u2019s up to the people to decide and different people have different opinions.<\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez celebrating second place behind brother Alex at Barcelona-Catalunya earlier this month<\/p>\n

\n Dorna\/MotoGP\n <\/p>\n

What\u2019s my opinion, for what it\u2019s worth? My opinions aren\u2019t really my own. The reason I\u2019ve been travelling to MotoGP races for the past 38 years is to get the truth from the only people that know, the only people that matter: current riders, former riders, engineers, technicians, team bosses, medical professionals and so on. These are the people who inform my opinions.<\/p>\n

During all that time I\u2019ve never known the paddock and pitlane to be so in awe of a rider as they are of M\u00e1rquez. Rossi, Mick Doohan<\/a> and Casey Stoner<\/a> came close, but even they didn\u2019t arouse the same level of stupefaction from the world\u2019s greatest motorcycle racers and engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow the f**k does he do it?\u201d is the usual reaction.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an engineer \u2013 whose first job in MotoGP was working with three-times champion Wayne Rainey<\/a> \u2013 talking about M\u00e1rquez, \u201cMarc needs it, he craves it. He\u2019s so focused. The other guys are like spoiled little brats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez overtaking 2025 team-mate Pecco Bagnaia<\/p>\n

\n Ducati Corse\n <\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a rider talking about Marc\u2019s speed, \u201cF***ing hell, it hurts. It hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here are two paddock people \u2013 both in MotoGP for around 40 years each \u2013 talking about the race which nearly ended M\u00e1rquez\u2019s career, Jerez 2020<\/a>, when he came through from the back of the pack to third, before crashing and breaking his right humerus (the upper arm).<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc\u2019s race that day was the greatest I\u2019ve ever seen, he made the best look slow. He would\u2019ve won the next four titles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat ride is etched in my memory. All the other guys should\u2019ve gone home, they should\u2019ve gone on holiday, because they looked like beginners.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a multiple MotoGP champion, who\u2019s also worthy of consideration for the GOAT mantle, \u201cMarc\u2019s talent is to a level that hasn\u2019t been seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he handles the Michelin front tyre is still a mystery \u2013 I really don\u2019t know how he manages it\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the metrics by which we should judge motorcycle racers?<\/p>\n

First, riding talent and technique. I agree with the multiple MotoGP champion above. No one matches M\u00e1rquez on riding ability. When he came to MotoGP he introduced a new skill, sliding the front tyre, which is arguably the cornerstone of his successes. Thirteen years later, no one else has learned to lock and slide the front like he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis control of the front is unique,\u201d another paddock perennial told me. \u201cThe way he side-slides the front tyre, he\u2019s the only rider that can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This skill comes from his supernatural feel for the front tyre, his reflexes and his ability to use his elbows as outriggers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc can play with the limit because he knows he will have two warnings from the front tyre and he will save them, whereas you will have one and you will crash,\u201d says one of his rivals.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more, from another engineer, \u201cHow he handles the Michelin front tyre is still a mystery \u2013 I really don\u2019t know how he manages it. He gains so much time in braking, but often his front tyre temperature is the lowest. It\u2019s very strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is one reason why he can overtake when others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez, Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall\u2019Igna (grey beard) and the factory Ducati team celebrate championship victory in Japan<\/p>\n

\n Ducati Corse\n <\/p>\n

\u201cMarc is a master at balancing on the edge of traction,\u201d says another engineer. \u201cBecause he feels the limit better than everybody else, \u2018OK, I\u2019m sliding the front and I\u2019m going to crash if I don\u2019t do something about it.\u2019 That reaction takes longer for other riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that M\u00e1rquez has spent his entire MotoGP career on spec tyres, so he\u2019s never enjoyed tailor-made tyres, built to suit his technique. And he\u2019s spent most of his time in MotoGP riding with spec electronics, so he\u2019s never luxuriated in predictive rider control systems, built for his riding style.<\/p>\n

Second, intellect. I\u2019d say Rossi runs him close on this metric. Intellect is a huge part of racing, because you need a very special mind to be able to ride at 220mph while making hundreds of subconscious and conscious decisions every few seconds, while also planning the next lap, the lap after that, the last lap, your next overtake and everything else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMarc wants to show to himself that he\u2019s the fastest, not the best, because to be fastest is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,4280,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-175522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-marc-marquez","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}