mds wrote:
-ZeroGravityToilet- wrote:
The (allegedly) greatest rival Rossi ever had when he was winning titles was Sete Gibernau. Perhaps Biaggi...
MM has had Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa... And now Dovizioso and Viñales to contend with. I think it is generally assumed this is a golden age to motorcycle racing comparable to that of Lawson, Rainey, Spencer, Gardner, Schwantz...
IMO, Marquez has already encountered more competition than Rossi ever had when he was winning his titles. Rossi has never won again once this generation of riders came along...
That's not entirely true, Rossi's last two titles came when Pedrosa, Dovi, Lorenzo and Dovi were already there. Stoner was also there.
Overall you might be right, although there are some question marks. How good is Pedrosa still, at this point? And Rossi? Good enough to be there but Pedrosa has been nowhere near (except for the odd race here and there) and Rossi... well, I don't think he is as good as he used to be. Vinales has quite a bit to prove yet and Dovi is great, but one wonders what Marquez would have done with the Ducati.
All in all, I think Marquez is hitting a time frame where the established riders have been steadily declining in form. Still, that doesn't detract from his riding, because the past two seasons he has really done an extraordinary job and he might well go on to become the greatest or not far off. If he keeps up what he's doing, then he'll be right up there. The coming few years will show us that.
Frankly it's getting hard to imagine that in ten years he won't be at least a 10-time champion.
Your points are correct. But I think Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Stoner had just arrived, and all at the same time. That is to say, they were all rookies or unexperienced at the same time. Once they got their footing (and changing categories in moto racing is harder than in cars) Rossi did not win again. Rossi was 29-30 the last time he won a WC. Hardly old. In fact, he has kept his riding level pretty much intact. The problem is that these guys are also very good, and Marc Marquez is obnoxiously good.
In my opinion, Pedrosa is in fact the measure of just how ridiculous Marquez is. I think Pedrosa is as good as he ever was. Which is alien good. And the Honda has not been a great bike since a long time ago. Still, Marquez has won three out of four championships against very stiff competition. It is pretty astonishing.
In my opinion again, MotoGP needs to sort out the tyre issue. It is somewhat depressing that riders need to measure their involvement lap by lap. It detracts from the awe factor that should deservedly float around this generation of riders... Strange from Michelin as well, probably the best tyre maker there ever was...
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