MotoGP, Marquez wins ninth World Championship and joins Rossi. At 15, the first podium in 125
The Spaniard is back after years as the strongest rider in MotoGP: at the start of the season Márquez was given as favourite and many saw Francesco Bagnaia, his Ducati team-mate, as his main rival. But on the track it was quite different and Marquez was once again almost unbeatable.
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Key points
5' min read
Ducati celebrates the return to victory in MotoGP for Francesco Bagnaia and, above all, the conquest of the World Championship title by Marc Marquez, the absolute ruler of the season with his ninth world title (his seventh in the premier class), six years after the last one and after a long period of difficulties due to injuries and a long road back to competitiveness. In Japan Marquez equalled his great rival of all time, Valentino Rossi, in terms of the number of world titles won. At the Motegi circuit the Spaniard only needed second place behind team-mate Bagnaia, who came back into the Japanese weekend despite a technical problem with his Desmosedici during the race.
A Montegi wins the title of rebirth
.For Marquez it is probably the 'most important' title of his sporting rebirth. The one conquered on the factory Ducati that sealed his definitive recovery after the bad injury that slowed his return to the high levels reached in the days of the unforgettable challenges with Valentino Rossi whose titles he equalled.
World domination
.Marquez's was a world championship dominated right from the start thanks also to his feeling with the Borgo Panigale bike. "This will be the title of the turning point," stressed Marc Marquez a few days ago, "the closure of the most difficult period of my career. The last few seasons have been very complicated, I lost two or three years of my career because I was at home. This is my second life in MotoGP".
Almost unbeatable
.The Spaniard has returned after years to be the strongest rider in MotoGP: at the start of the season Márquez was given as favourite and many saw Francesco Bagnaia, his Ducati team-mate, as his main rival. But on track we saw something quite different and Marquez is once again almost unbeatable in MotoGP: because he rides the best bike in the championship, but also because he is the only one capable of making it perform at its best, albeit with a slightly different style to the one he used to ride for Honda.
The new driving style
.Until a few years ago, the Iberian champion was a very aggressive and impulsive driver, capable of spectacular but also very risky overtaking. The somewhat reckless way in which he approached corners and contacts on the track was admired by riders and fans, but at the same time criticised by many opponents. Of these, the greatest critic of Márquez was (and still is) Valentino Rossi. Since joining Ducati, Márquez has ridden in a much more controlled manner: he is still aggressive, but in a less swaggering and more strategic way. Apart from the new bike, this is also due to the fact that injuries and the passage of years have made him more aware of what the right risks to take are.
