He made one of his dreams come true in Italy; in Britain just 6 days ago, he repeated and confirmed that what happened in Mugello was not a coincidence; and today in Assen, the so-called “Cathedral of Motorcycling”, young Marc Márquez has validated that he is a firm candidate for the title with this third win. Márquez led the 22 laps and crossed the finish line more than two seconds ahead of second place, fellow Spaniard, Nico Terol. Espargaró came in third, more than 8 seconds behind.
The race had just one master and two leading players: Marc Márquez and Nico Terol. Both opened a gap with the rest of the group from the first lap and after just 2 laps, they already had more than a one second advantage. Behind them, the group made up of Vázquez, Espargaró and Smith battled in vain to reduce the difference, meanwhile Márquez stayed out in front, setting a blistering pace that only Terol could keep up with.
And that is how the laps passed, with Márquez leading the race, Terol in close second, riding comfortably, and a distance behind, which exceeded five seconds at one stage, Espargaró leading a group that was eventually divided. Firstly, Vázquez fell and then Smith was unable to keep up with Espargaró’s pace, who finally crossed the line alone in third place.
Out in front, Márquez started opening a gap with Terol just six laps before the end. In this lap, they also caught up with the back of the pack and when overtaking, Terol clashed with one of them, allowing the Repsol rider to take the opportunity to increase his advantage. This was the decisive moment of the race, with Márquez opening a two-second gap in just a couple of laps and Terol confirmed in second place.
With this win, the third in a row, Márquez continues to reduce the difference in the overall standings and although he is still in third place, now he is just 11 points behind Terol, who recovered the lead and 8 from Espargaró, who dropped to second.
Marc Márquez, 1st 37’48.923 sec. >> Audio
“I’m very happy. Winning three races in a row boosts your confidence, both mine and the team’s, which is starting to get to know me and know what I need at every moment. In general, we’ve done a very good job all weekend; we’ve consistently been up front, keeping up a good pace. In the end, we had a good race, which is what matters because in the practices we knew that we had the fastest race pace. My aim was to go out and push hard and we saw how Nico [Terol] closed in, who was the rider who could have been the strongest. But I was able to take advantage of a backmarker I overtook on the limit, who he couldn’t overtake, to make the final push. I did one of my fastest laps and opened a two second margin, which finally helped me win the race. However, we must keep our feet on the ground because every weekend is different. In Catalunya, I’m sure that it will be different and we have to keep focused”.
