By clinching the World Championship title for the fifth time, Marc Marquez has begun his ascent towards becoming a motorcycle racing legend.
HE HAS TAKEN the phrase “living dangerously” to a different level altogether. Marc Marquez, with his fearless riding style, claimed his fifth MotoGP World Championship in the last six seasons with three races to spare in Motegi, Japan. He has been able to upturn the phrase “slow and steady wins the race” to “fast and furious always dominate”.
Well, there’s a lot more that goes into the making of the Spanish superstar than meets the eye. The Repsol Honda rider has been clinching podiums with consummate ease. Statistics only prove his dominance on two wheelers. Marquez has won a whopping 44 races, claimed 77 podiums and a massive 52 pole positions out of the 108 races he has participated in since graduating to the MotoGP premier class in 2013. This year too, Marquez claimed nine out of the 18 races—including the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit—in scintillating fashion.
COMING TO MALAYSIA after crashing out at the Australian GP, Marquez was hoping for a podium finish. With the likes of Maverick Vinales of Movistar Yamaha, Johann Zarco of Monster Yamaha, Alex Rins of Suzuki Ecstar and, of course, Valentino Rossi of Movistar Yamaha pushing hard, there was no dearth of challengers for the Malaysian title. To make things worse, incessant rains and a six-grid penalty for ‘slow driving’ after securing pole position during qualifying made things gloomy for the 25-year-old.
But that only fuelled his desire to win.
The Ant of Cervera, as he is popularly known, zoomed to victory after Rossi crashed on the 16th lap owing to immense pressure heaped on him by Marquez, who secured his ninth win of the season with a timing of 40 minutes 32.372 seconds, ahead of second-placed compatriot Rins (+1.898 sec) and Frenchman Zarco (+2.47 4sec).
“It was a very hard race. Starting from the seventh gave me extra motivation. I had never won a race from the third row before. The first lap was good but it was not the best of my career. I overtook some riders and saw Valentino pushing very hard from the beginning. I pushed hard too, I rode as if it was practice or qualifying but overheated my tyres just after I went past Zarco. I started to struggle and lost the front but managed to avoid (crashing) with my elbow.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Hockey World Cup- India Gears Up For Glory
Hosts India will have to play out of their skins to win their second Hockey Men’s World Cup title.
Beating The Odds, Twice Over
Mary Kom’s decision to launch her own boxing academy was as daunting as her road to becoming a six-time world champion.
Target Tokyo
Still A Month Shy Of Turning 21, Indian Athletics’ Poster Boy Neeraj Chopra Is Setting His Sights On A Medal On The Biggest Stage Of Them All: The 2020 Olympics In Tokyo.
Sascha Statement
Alexander Zverev did not impress at Grand Slams this year but in a tournament that featured the eight best pros, he came up trumps.
Tarmac Tormentor
By clinching the World Championship title for the fifth time, Marc Marquez has begun his ascent towards becoming a motorcycle racing legend.
Racing In Nature's Lap
Arunachal Pradesh hosted the Indian National Rally Championship’s third leg on a national highway, a first in the history of rally racing.
Pressing Forward
Nearly five years after stepping down (he did not retire) as NBA commissioner, DAVID STERN has no time for war stories. The reticent icon is busy crafting a second act that could impact the future of the game.
Marin Shuttles Back ‘Home'
Pune gifted the world badminton. Now, they are ready to embrace the World Champion.
Golden Memories
India’s 1975 World Cup-winning hockey team’s captain revisits his team’s path to glory in Kuala Lumpur.
Action With A Twist
New trends have emerged at the half-way stage of season VI of the Pro Kabaddi league.
How to Survive A Bubble
No one can be sure if markets are too high—but your emotions probably are
PELOTON WANTS TO BE MORE THAN A PANDEMIC FAD
In March, a couple of weeks after sweeping stay-at-home orders had brought much of the U.S. to a halt, William Lynch says he realized Peloton Interactive Inc. would fare really well in the year of the pandemic.
HELP IS ON THE WAY But the world still needs a shot in the arm!
The economic outlook is starting to brighten just about everywhere you look
Drugstores To the Rescue
Pharmacy chains aim to boost the vaccine rollout—and their bottom lines
China Tightens Its Grip on Fintech
In late 2020, as Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. prepared for a $35 billion initial public offering, many outside China wondered if the country’s financial technology giants were becoming a global competitive threat to U.S. and European banks and payments companies. Ant’s Alipay app, used for everything from hailing cabs to investing, had already rewired financial services in the world’s second-largest economy. There was just one problem: Inside China, policymakers were growing uneasy about the sudden dominance of their homegrown superstars.
China Comes For Its Tech Giants
The Chinese government’s crackdown on the country’s largest technology companies has raised fears that the industry could be paralyzed or cast into disarray as the economy enters a delicate moment. But one contingent within the tech sector is privately cheering on a broad set of anti-monopoly edicts: startups and their investors.
WHY THIS BEAUTY CAN DESTROY SCIENTOLOGY
What accused rapist Danny Masterson’s ex-lover really knows
Charging DUES, Making DO
Phil and Erin Lockwood never imagined their family would be traveling more during the coronavirus pandemic. But since joining the vacation club Inspirato last September, the parents of three have swapped one annual trip to a Disney theme park for villa rentals in Cabo San Lucas and Costa Rica.
NO IMMUNITY FOR SURVIVOR JONNY!
Busted for ripping off own granny
Back-to-Work Blues?
Tech boomed during the pandemic. It may not last