English
Italiano
The duel seen in Jerez between Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez turned out to be nothing short of incandescent, so much so as to keep the fans glued to the TV until the very end. In the end we know how it went: it was the world champion who won while the Spaniard of the Gresini team had to settle for second place, yielding the honor of arms.
Looking at the timesheet, the first thing that stands out is that Bagnaia and Marquez did a separate job on Sunday in Andalusia. Out of the 25 laps to be contested, Pecco went under the 1'38" mark 12 times while Marc did so on 11 occasions. Just to give an idea of what the two men did, Bezzecchi, who finished third, only managed it on three laps.
That said, the start of the race was a pivotal moment: in fact, Bagnaia was able to bring himself immediately close to the top positions, from seventh to fourth, while Marc in the first laps said he was stiff and contracted at times on the bike. The times confirm this because in the first nine laps, the Gresini rider only once went below the 1'38" mark, consistently lapping in a low 1'38".
From lap 11 onwards, instead, he truly came out into the open, to the point of hammering away at a high 1'37" pace and gaining precious tenths on Bagnaia, closing the gap. The Spaniard's plan was very clear: that is, to attack Pecco between the fifth-to-last and fourth-to-last lap and then break away and leave him on the spot. Then again, we can well understand the #93's strategy if we consider the matter of an increase in tire temperature and the relative front pressure due to overheating because of the rider ahead of him.
So Magic Marc tried it in T3, which is his strongest sector of the track. He did it twice, but Pecco was ready, holding his own and responding blow by blow enough to neutralize his opponent's attacks.
As if that weren't enough, on the third-to-last lap, Bagnaia set the record lap of the race in 1'37"449. It was a clear and direct message to Marquez, as if to say that for today the game was over. Marc was then forced to surrender the honor of arms, making his fastest lap in the race on the final race in 1'37"637, which was two tenths slower than his opponent.
Coming out the winner of the confrontation was therefore Pecco Bagnaia, who made consistency in the race his workhorse and at the same time was able to respond blow by blow to the attacks of his rival, showing his muscles and defusing all his attempts.
With the Andalusian round now over, all that remains to do now is to prepare for a new battle, scheduled in two weeks in Le Mans.
