High-altitude Alex: World Cup referee. But the real brawl is only with Pecco

by the envoy

SCARPERIA (Florence)

His name is Alex Marquez and evidently, in this 2025, he has decided to do (very well) a couple of things. The first: prove himself to be a good and truly strong rider. The second: wear the years, never easy, of being the referee of this World Championship. Above all, there is Alex, in short, at the center of a season that for Ducati is worth gold (three bikes on the front row and three on the podium of the Sprint, at Mugello) and that could end up bringing the other Marquez back to the top of the world, namely Marc who aims to reach Rossi for world titles under his belt. Marquez (Alex) the referee – and this was clearly seen in yesterday's Sprint at Mugello, when in the first four laps Marquez and Bagnaia went at it (bumping, overtaking and counter-overtaking) without holding back – in this extreme brawl, we were saying, it was more evident than on other occasions how ruthless, aggressive and tough Alex is in attacking or defending himself from Bagnaia and a little less so in battling with his brother.

Psychological issue, perhaps, that is, with a brother (who nevertheless received the first applause in history at Mugello, "finally", he exclaimed) everything becomes different and therefore, yes, even raising your voice on the track or perhaps hiding that respect that you carry in your unconscious. With Pecco, on the other hand, you can fight like with anyone else. Indeed, more, because Bagnaia is a very strong opponent and who among other things - here's the crux of the matter - could put his brother's climb to the title under pressure. Alex Marquez, in any case, with the 2024 Ducati of the Gresini team, had a Saturday at Mugello to be applauded. In qualifying he was able to snatch a front row after suffering quite a bit in the first laps. In the Sprint he climbed onto the podium behind Marc and ahead of Bagnaia, after a race in which he was careful and defended himself in the fireworks of the first laps, only suffering (and we return to the previous discussion) the super-overtaking by his brother Marc which effectively ended his day of fighting.

The spotlight is also on Marco Bezzecchi's Aprilia, protagonist of another comeback that took him from position number 10 on the starting grid to sixth place in the Sprint behind Di Giannantonio of Vr 46. Bez shakes his head and is right to do so: "I did everything without the winglet on the front left that broke in a contact at the start. It's a shame because the bike, in the normal set-up, would have taken me further forward".

The program. Today, at 9.40 MotoGp warm up. The races: Moto3 at 11; Moto2 at 12.15; MotoGp at 14. Live SkyMotoGp and streaming on Now.