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MotoGP: The artistry and skill of Marc Marquez’s many saves

By Kevin Nguyen

DOHA, QATAR - MARCH 03: Marc Marquez of Spain and Repsol Honda Team rounds the bend during the Moto GP Testing - Qatar at Losail Circuit on March 3, 2018 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)
DOHA, QATAR - MARCH 03: Marc Marquez of Spain and Repsol Honda Team rounds the bend during the Moto GP Testing - Qatar at Losail Circuit on March 3, 2018 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images) /
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Marc Marquez’s MotoGP career is about falling and recovery as much as it’s been about winning. We analyze how and why his saves are so jaw-dropping.

Falling while riding a motorcycle is expected. Falling while riding a motorcycle at 200 miles per hour is dangerous, for the rider’s health and their race. But Marc Marquez has made a career of saving himself at critical moments to salvage a race. How does he do it? We analyze his technique.

Among MotoGP riders, Marquez’s saves have become not only an essential part of the 25-year-old Spaniard’s riding style but also a work of art. Valentino Rossi thinks so.

Marquez’s riding style is very loose. He is constantly moving on the bike and at times seemingly inches from falling off. The four-time MotoGP champion has been known to bring multiple elbow sliders to races and occasionally uses multiple sets during a session. And that is where it starts.

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Marquez’s elbows make more contact with the tarmac than any rider in MotoGP class. As a result, his lean angle is much more severe than other riders. However, that extreme lean angle when Marquez is over one side of the bike going into the turn, when the bike is nearly parallel with the race surface, is what makes Marquez’s saves more skill than luck.

As his elbow drags along the tarmac or even the curb, there is more weight to shift, but Marquez uses his elbow as a fulcrum to make minute changes throughout the corner, allowing him to create a more seamless transition should he need to recover. Obviously, being so low to the ground, the odds of getting injured are lessened should recovery be impossible and the best option be to fall.

The ability to fall or recover without injury is why Marquez is so dominant, going so far as to change the riding styles of his competition. Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales’s style is similar to Marquez in lean angle, but the 23-year-old Spaniard approaches turns with more leg and knee than Marquez does. Marquez’s loose riding style and fall technique have caught the eye of other Honda riders, who now claim that falling is essential.

Marquez’s saves are best exemplified by his saves in 2017 in Valencia and Sepang. In Sepang, Marquez used more knee, similar to Vinales, while in Valencia, he says it was “all elbow”.

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Whether it’s because of the factory Honda bike or just his natural talent, Marc Marquez’s saves are a thing of beauty to watch, but more so, they are a testament to how Grand Prix motorcycle racing has evolved.

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