Marc Marquez’s incredible winning streak in Moto GP has come to an end today in the Czech Republic as Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa stopped the Spanish sensation from making it eleven-in-a-row at Brno.
Marquez has set the motorcycle racing world alight since making his Moto GP debut at the beginning of last season. He became the youngest ever world champion in 2013, and was the first rookie since Kenny Roberts in 1978 to the win the premier title.
He is poised to go back-to-back in 2014 after winning all of the first ten races, but his hopes of a perfect season went up in smoke today at Brno as he was forced to settle for fourth place come the checkered flag.
After starting from pole, Marquez made a poor start to drop to sixth as Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo took the lead of the race from Pedrosa. Valentino Rossi slotted into third, but fell behind Marquez when the Spaniard began to fight back.
However, the 21-year-old struggled with the setup on his bike, meaning that he could not hold Rossi back. For the first time in his Moto GP career, he finished a race off the podium in fourth place.
At the front, Pedrosa managed to find a way past Lorenzo on lap six before fending the Yamaha rider off to claim the victory. At the line, the gap between the two riders was just four-tenths of a second.
This race may have seen Marquez’s hopes of a perfect season come to an end, but the Spaniard’s achievements cannot be understated. Winning all eighteen races was always going to be a near impossible task, so to have completed ten-in-a-row is still something to be incredibly proud of. The Honda rider will now be hoping to wrap up the championship as soon as possible.
Moto GP returns in two weeks’ time at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
