In The Paddock Column
Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
Hero-Zeros
Dorna’s aim at making the racing closer has been thrillingly successful. But making it so close can make fools out of heroes. Here are some examples. Honda, Yamaha, Quartararo. And the panel of stewards.
Honda is paying the price of having one super-strong rider who then got hurt. Development concentrated on Marc’s extraordinary abilities, which left a machine with shortcomings that only he could ride around. Most of the time.
His prolonged and frequent absences since 2020 left the most successful racing manufacturer scrabbling to find technical direction.
Short of grip, acceleration and, as a consequence, good speed, the bike has left Marc in full-risk mode, as demonstrated all too painfully in the opening round in Portugal, when a crash under braking wiped him and Oliveira out and left him out of action for the next three races. And again in his return at Le Mans, wh