Can you imagine being able to see through a pinhole the reactions of those who run the sports industry while watching a game? Imagine, perhaps, Deco hallucinating Vinicius’s technical gestures in the last Champions League final. Or Florentino Pérez himself praise the pearls of La Masia, such as Fermín or Cubarsí. Those scenes have not happened. That we know. But the retina of many motorcycling fans does have an image that seems from another era: Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso dueling from corner to corner. At stake, a race victory and, ultimately, the world championship. And in the Ducati box, a sports director who has become the most passionate fan of the leader of the rival factory, Honda. “He is the number one, he is the number one,” he shouted. And he made that gesture with his index finger while watching the lethal overtaking of the 93 on the screens. And while we, at the same time, contemplated him, the protagonist of the international MotoGP signal, in a moment of maximum excitement. That fan is Davide Tardozzi, one of the directors of the Bologna factory, who on Tuesday morning announced the signing of Márquez for 2025 and 2026.
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Tardozzi is not the only person with a say in the decision of the house of Borgo Panigale, much less the one with the most weight, but his admiration serves as an example that decisions are often made with the heart. That she also signs with intuition, with her gut. How can you close the door on an eight-time world champion who is demanding a starting jersey on your team? Two riders full of merits and arguments aspired to the official Ducati motorcycle that was orphaned after the renewal of the world champion Pecco Bagnaia: Jorge Martín, current leader of the championship, who already rides an official Ducati in a satellite team, and Marc Márquez, who with a 2023 Ducati and in only seven races with that bike is putting both Martín and Bagnaia in trouble (not to mention the rest). The decision was not easy for those from Bologna, it is obvious.
How it couldn’t have been easy to want to do the right thing and feel, at the same time, that they would regret it for the rest of their lives. The correct thing would have been to sign Martín, who had already been promised that bike and who, today, is the best rider in the house according to the general classification. But his heart was tied to the dream (which so many times they must have believed impossible) of having the best, the number one, on his team. Because this Márquez from the beginning of June is very reminiscent of the one who aroused admiration and envy in equal measure.
That’s why, when it seemed that the decision had been made, even after Martín received the call from the boss, Gigi Dall’Igna, Márquez got the most competitive streak, the all or nothing gene, the one that leads him to run under the motto “big door or infirmary”. Cervera always had very clear ideas. And the order he launched at Ducati had an effect. Either he ended up in the official team or he would not ride a Desmosedici. There was no shortage of offers. And given his adaptation to this bike, it is difficult to doubt what he would be capable of doing with an Aprilia or a KTM (they don’t doubt that in the Italian house either).
On the other side of the negotiation table, the bosses of Ducati, in a situation as privileged – they have earned it by finally evolving a motorcycle that dominates the category like Honda or Yamaha did before – as well as difficult. Bosses who have chosen to choose the least fair path? (life is not fair, much less sport) and the most risky: staying with Márquez for what he can contribute to the competition and the brand image; bet on an ambitious and determined athlete who they know will generate more noise in the box and in front of his fans. Signing the 93 is assuming that managing the team, with eleven world titles between the two roosters in the henhouse, will not be easy; It is also accepting the challenge of reversing the whistles that Valentino Rossi’s once great rival receives today on Italian soil. At Ducati and at the Márquez house they are convinced that with victories the whistles will turn into applause.
The signing of Márquez for Ducati is a real bombshell, with Mbappé’s permission. The soap opera of these months has generated as much hype as the departure of Valentino Rossi from Honda to Yamaha, first, and from there to Ducati later; same path that Lorenzo took to wear red. Neither of them succeeded in the Bolognese house, where Márquez, who starts with an advantage, aspires to do so. He already knows that the Ducati is compatible with his style. This Ducati, furthermore, is not the one with which Rossi became frustrated; nor the one with whom Lorenzo fought so much. This bike is the world champion. And the pairing that is dreamed of – is made by Márquez and Dall’Igna, also by Tardozzi; Of course Dorna does it, so in need of seasoning an excellent sports competition, somewhat in need of the echoes that Rossi and Co. aroused in their day, is already stirring the roost.
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2024-06-05 15:11:32
#Márquez #Ducati #regret #signing #heart #Motorcycling #Sports
