Images like this one might soon become a rare sight // Ph: Jay Clark - Flickr
Sport This Sunday's win by Jorge Lorenzo over Valentino Rossi could be the beginning of the end for the beloved motorcycle circuit. We explain you why
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Edoardo Tricerri
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As I put aside the assignments that were scarily approaching deadlines, I was already aware of the mistake I was making. Yet, punctual as I’ve never been to a lecture, I sat down in front of the TV ready to watch the Grand Finale of the 2015 MotoGP season. In the breath-taking moments before the start I should have been more rational, conscious of the fact that just a miracle could have changed the ending of an already written tale. Yet, as my heartbeat was reverberating in the empty room, passion and excitement didn’t let me. Maybe it was because starting from last and finishing in the top two seemed a doable task for the greatest racer in history, or maybe it was the excitement that a possible great feat always generates, but as I switched on my TV, I really believed Valentino Rossi could make an historical exploit. And Valentino almost did the impossible, starting last he finished the race in fourth place, passing other 23 racers, and just falling short of the podium. Unfortunately though, his great efforts and an amazing race did not pay off in the end. Jorge Lorenzo won the championship—as he later admitted—thanks to Marc Marquez, who safely escorted him to the finish line. There are a lot of questions about this season that would deserve to be answered by Marquez. Why did he fight as a lion in Malaysia, passing Rossi ten times in a lap, yet yesterday he didn’t even try to make a move on Lorenzo for 30 laps? Why so much hate for a legend that made the history of this sport and that at 35 years is still able to compete with younger racers that were barely born when he won his first championship? Why did he betray values of sportsmanship and honesty deciding that it was up to him to decide who deserved to win the title? |
From now on MotoGP will be open to speculation, conspiracy theories and assumptions of corruption, making it so similar to other sports they tried to differentiate it from
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As I’m afraid these questions will never be answered, it is undoubtable that MotoGP will never be the same. The awareness that each racer was willing to do anything to win regardless of whom was in front of him, constant unbelievable passes and thrilling endings attracted millions and millions of fans to this sport, and now Marquez has deprived it of all of this. From now on MotoGP will be open to speculations, conspiracy theories and alleged assumptions of corruption, making it so similar to other sports they tried to differentiate it from.
Marquez is an amazing competitor, he’s young and has a bright future ahead of him. I wish him the best. I wish him one day to be as old as Valentino and find himself competing for the title in a last race where he fights with a much younger racer, as Rossi did yesterday. I really hope that when that day comes he will find a loyal and sportsman opponent and that he will be able to fairly beat him. As he goes through empty stands without anybody cheering for him, he will understand what he did to this sport. Valentino Rossi lost yesterday, but so did MotoGP. TMM |