All-Italian derby
After the first five rounds of the 2023 season, while awaiting the home race at Mugello, the Italy of two wheels can enjoy a MotoGP standings that see the white, red and green tricolor waving brighter than ever. In fact, two of our centaurs are in the first two places in the ranking: Pecco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi. The two Ducati riders – one a factory rider, the other a standard-bearer for the Mooney VR46 team – are separated by just one point and have both taken two championship victories so far.
Small advantage
The reigning world champion, who will come as leader at the home round, can though regret the small benefit. In fact, Bagnaia could have reached the first ‘long’ break of this season – three weeks between the French GP and the Mugello race – with a decidedly higher margin of points over both Bezzecchi and the rest of his pursuers. The Ducati’s #1 was great at take advantage of the novelty of Sprint raceswinning two out of five and finishing four times in the top-3, but instead committed a few too many missteps in the ‘classic’ Sunday GPs.
The Le Mans accident
The Le Mans accident, caused by discussed contact with Maverick Viñales’ Apriliahas in fact marked the third zero in five GPs for the Chivasso champion. All the knockouts came after falls by Bagnaia, who had fallen to the ground – this time alone – also at Termas de Rio Hondo and Austin. Thus we arrive at a small paradox: Bagnaia is leader of the World Cup but it is also the first reigning world champion in the MotoGP era to have collected three zeros in five races.
Marquez’s crashes
A certain component of bad luck for the Piedmontese is certainly present and it must also be considered that now – compared to the past – the the presence of the Sprints completely changes the face of a weekend. In the Sunday races, however, so far no defending champion had accumulated more than two zeros in five races. The ‘case’ closest to that of Bagnaia is that of Marc Marquez, in 2017. In that year the champion from Cervera fell twice at the start of the championship, in Argentina and France. But then he would be able to come back and win the title in the final race in Valencia, beating Andrea Dovizioso’s resistance.
Rossi’s misfortune in 2006
A similar fate, but linked more to bad luck, was instead the one that hit Valentino Rossi in 2006. In fact, that year the Doctor was knocked down in the first race of the season, in Jerez, by Toni Elias, but still managed to finish 14th. In the fourth and fifth round instead – in China and France – it was the reliability of his Yamaha M1 to betray him, forcing him to two knockouts for technical reasons. Again the title was decided at the final round in Valencia, but that time Rossi’s crash paved the way for the surprising success of Nicky Hayden.
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