Is Marc Marquez ‘even better now’ than in 2019? Spaniard given ‘genius’ tag as stellar form continues at Grand Prix Germany

Michael Laverty has hailed the “genius” of Marc Marquez as Neil Hodgson said nobody “can copy what Marc does.”

The older sibling leads the standings by 68 points and looks all-but certain to win his seventh MotoGP world title.

After years of struggle when he came back from a serious injury to his right arm, Laverty believes he is now at his peak, surpassing the period in which he won his six titles.

Laverty told TNT Sports: “At the moment, he’s arguably in the purple patch of his career. We thought 2019 was the best Marc Marquez we were ever going to see, but I think he’s even better now.

“The tough years, the process. He was slumped over a barrier here, when he just could not stay on that bike, the realisation, the learning process.

“The ability that he’s come back with to not have to crash and push those boundaries, to be as good as he is.

“He’s phenomenal. He’s an incredible athlete, an incredible motorcycle rider, no matter what you put him on. You’ve got to respect and enjoy watching that genius at work.”

However, the pundit did note that his team-mate, and another former world champion, Francesco Bagnaia, was close to a competitive level after a frustrating first half of the season.

“The one flipside, I will say, is Pecco at Assen looked back. Not quite back to what Marc’s doing right now, but back in contention. Able to fight, able to give him a race,” he argued.

“I know he’s seven-tenths of a second off right now, that’s game over. But seven-tenths of a second on Friday morning is okay for Pecco Bagnaia. 

“In Pecco’s head, there’s still a huge fire burning, a hope that he can turn things around.”

Fellow analyst Hodgson thought that Marquez remains inimitably talented, but also stated that Bagnaia may be suffering without Jorge Martin, who has been out this season with a series of injury problems.

He said: “You can’t copy what Marc does. No one can. Otherwise people would have been able to do it. 

“It was common knowledge that Pecco would copy the homework of Jorge Martin, because they have very similar styles, and that he was always on a Sunday able to gain from that.

“It could be part of the problem.”
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