Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) in front of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), “Pecco” Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing VR46 Ducati) – the returnee at Honda was formally passed after one and a half laps. Without 3 falls in front of him, it would only have been enough for 10th place in the end. According to the Medical Commission, he was fit in any case, all other claims about his health did not come true. According to his brother Alex, he drove faster at the end than at the beginning.

A new world opened up for Marc Marquez

Thanks to a reader’s tip, we found an interesting subtitle on a portal that made us think. It was only then that we really became aware of everything that changed with the return of Marc Marquez. It was not just any news portal, but at least one of the most widespread in the German-speaking area. Since as a rule there is not really neutral reporting there, we reasonably see everything that can be read there with healthy skepticism. Often enough in the style of tabloid journalism with sometimes questionable and often even missing content in relation to the headline.

Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in front of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), of which one saw a theatricality on his arm in Portugal, which one had never seen before with him. Before that, his fans only remembered him as a fighter, without any acting (© Aprilia Racing Team Gresini)).

When human abysses open up
The sponsor behind it, without this being visible on the main page of the aforementioned page, is one of the sponsors of the 6-time world champion. At first glance, the majority of its readers think that it is an absolutely neutral sports news portal. According to our whistleblower, it is not uncommon for very bizarre people to cavort on their comment forum, of course absolutely anonymously. It obviously ranges from fecal language to the grossest defamation of those who think differently to even racist comments, which apparently are not deleted or only deleted very late. According to our informant, the tatters should often fly there, and it is noticeable that reports are written in a completely one-sided manner, which of course fuel this hustle and bustle. In any case, KTM is also one of the “favorites” of this portal and for years now, positions outside the top ten have mostly been celebrated as if they were victories.

If rubbish could talk – taken by us on race Sunday in Assen 2019. You see such frightening pictures or even worse every year at the Mugello GP, and we always ask ourselves which category “fans” organized this mess. By the way, to the right under the flag was the next huge and not overfilled garbage can. After all, this helps to better understand the sometimes disgusting comments in certain reader forums and what kind of subjects are behind them. Of course, even after a beautiful Sunday, we saw pictures like this in many places, for example in nearby recreational areas.

The involuntary exposure of the new age
But now back to the heart of the matter, namely a statement in a form that must alienate some readers. The subtitle was the cheeky claim that the return of Marquez had “outshone everything” on the Portugal weekend. But is this actually true? Then what about the Yamaha miracle we just reported about? And what about Aleix Espargaró, about whom there was hardly a line to be read, after a sensational 6th place in the finish ahead of Marquez and in the same position in the World Championship, even before all the Hondas and KTM! Right, it’s all a question of appearance and maybe the chosen formulation would still have been right for Friday. But as we already emphasized in our review of the GP, the main role was played by many others after one and a half laps, including the Aprilia driver with a sensational drive. The intellectual author involuntarily unmasked himself with his possibly careless formulation and this should alarm the Marquez fans. It would mean nothing else than a 7th place for the 6-time world champion would be a sensation in the future.

Marc Marquez in the (Repsol Honda Box – the media attention was of course huge during his comeback – but as we understand and many of our readers understand that it was primarily about a race. Not everyone could understand this hype, in which many behaved in this way as if the results were almost irrelevant (© Repsol Honda).

What can the fans in Jerez expect?

With a clever strategy, the people around the Repsol Honda Star have already made provisions. Immediately after the Grand Prix, the news was hastily spread that he had been banned from training (on the bike) due to the “overload” of his right arm up to the Jerez GP. In the race he did not seem to feel this handicap even according to his brother, who was driving directly behind him from the second half, but this has cleverly taken precautions so that even fourth place can be stylized as a sensation by him again. In reality, however, he will definitely be there from the start and from Friday onwards he will get his heart out. However, Marquez’s opposition should not only play a particularly important role in a week’s time.

Dark clouds over the Circuito de Jerez – unfortunately the weather forecast for the Grand Prix weekend at the beginning of May does not look very refreshing. At the moment, rain can almost certainly be expected, especially on the first two days, but even on Sunday the current forecast is uncertain, with a 70 percent probability for wet conditions.

The skewers are the same length for most drivers
Incidentally, with a few exceptions, his opponents cannot and must not train on the MotoGP bike, to mention this casually. With superbike or motocross machines there is always the risk of injuries. The World Cup is still long and Marquez wouldn’t be Marquez if he wasn’t looking for a top spot. But he has to get on the podium soon and not only the 6 drivers who crossed the finish line before him in Portugal will have something against it. Welcome to the new age! Incidentally, Honda also wrote of a “heroic 7th place” and with all the hype surrounding Marc, Dorna even neglected to post pictures of Aleix Espargaró, who had crossed the finish line in front of him, to their readers on the MotoGP portal. Many fans find this extremely unsportsmanlike, for which we show great understanding.

The current situation in the world championship intermediate ranking shows an outstanding leader who won both races in Jerez last year. The 4 places behind are tight and only 8 points separate these drivers. Because the season is still long, we are following the advice of the leader. After his second win of the season, Fabio Quartararo wisely stated that he was full of confidence, but he didn’t want to talk about the title until the last quarter of the racing calendar.

Schedule and TV program Jerez Grand Prix

At the time of our publication there was a bug on the official MotoGP page and the Q1 of Moto2 was given as a duration of 25 minutes, which is of course wrong. This has of course already been corrected in our timetable.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).