Àlex Márquez Alentà (Cervera, 26 years old) is in one of the best moments of his life. At the Argentine GP, the youngest son of Roser and Julià once again showed that he is much more than the brother of Marc, the great dominator of MotoGP in the last decade. His pole position in Termas de Río Hondo, the first of his career in the premier class, as well as fifth position in the sprint race after winning a close duel against champion Pecco Bagnaia, confirm that the changes sought by the last year they have once again released their best version, the one that they already brought out when they were proclaimed champion of Spain —a title that their brother, three years older, does not have— and later Moto3 and Moto2 world champion.
On the Argentine track, this Saturday, he knew how to suffer and fight. After a regular Friday, still looking to score tenths and ride the potential of his new Ducati to the fullest, he needed to go through the first qualifying round. There he set the best time just before falling and, as if that were not enough, seeing how his motorcycle caught fire on the way to the workshop. He had to stop, let the track marshals put out the fire and then rush to the garage. Brave and brimming with confidence, he got on without even being able to touch the rain settings of the second mount and pushed more than anyone in the second stint, with a masterful last lap on the brink of the fall, with dry tires on top of the wet asphalt and riddled with treacherous puddles after the morning rain.
“It has been a bit of a drama,” he acknowledged as soon as he arrived at the closed park, where all the heavyweights of the Italian brand came to congratulate him. Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager, already warned in preseason: “Àlex Márquez wants to show why he is world champion.”
The move from the indomitable Honda to the Ducati has given Àlex more independence than ever, renewed with a motorcycle that lets himself go and allows him to express himself on the track in his own way, with a much finer and less explosive style than Marc’s. , the only pilot capable of sharpening the Japanese mount.
Despite the fact that they continue to live together, they have always been thick and thin, the dynamics of the brothers in Madrid, where they both moved a little over a year ago, are rather those of two colleagues who experience their first adventure away from their parents. “He’s not a brother, he’s a best friend,” says Marc about him in All In, the documentary that reviews the last (and dramatic) year of the Honda champion. “Among them they take care of each other and protect each other,” says his mother, who now misses them in Cervera. Leaving behind their comfort zone, their family and the town where they grew up, a municipality of less than 10,000 inhabitants in the province of Lleida, has given them a new shot of vitality. “At the point where we were both, I understood that a change could go well for us. Get out of the nest where you have always been and fly alone”, says the Gresini pilot.
The youngest of the Márquez Alentà family says he is calmer than ever in this new phase. “My assistant, José, tells me. I came to catch a certain obsession, because things did not work out for me. Now it’s easier because I enjoy riding the bike”, he reflects. He decided to leave Honda, which gave him his first opportunity in MotoGP, a challenge for which he was singled out for sharing the box with his brother: “Having Marc by your side, it is inevitable that people talk more about you and put you more pressure. It is something that I have dealt with since I was little ”, he assumed.
He always had to show what he was capable of. Even in friendly territory. Not even his longtime manager saw him as exceptional until in 2014 when he showed all his speed and personality on the bike, when he faced Jack Miller, a real tough nut to crack, for the Moto3 title. Emilio Alzamora —with whom he split pears last year, the same as Marc—, assumed that it was his turn to represent him because he was the “brother of”. Horny, kind and quite cerebral, Àlex Márquez, the Mauri for his friends (even for his mother) has been away from unfair criticism for a long time: “Comparisons are difficult, with Marc any driver loses. You don’t have to eat your head over it. I take it well”. In Termas, this Sunday, he will have another bullet to look for his first victory in MotoGP. “I will try to be until the end and enjoy.” That’s what it’s all about.
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