After 11 years, Marc Marquez is leaving Honda HRC to join Team Gresini. This was announced in a laconic press release, without signatures or photos, by the same House with the Wing. The same one to which the Spaniard has brought 6 MotoGP world titles from 2013 to date. Good luck to all and all the best.

The length of the dance, the protraction of endless rumors in the paddock, the bickering of barroom chatter subtract some value from this, which is effectively the biggest thing to happen in MotoGP since Marquez himself entered it more than a decade ago. In short, the news is big, but it has been in the public square for so long that it feels a bit like the story of the elephant giving birth to the mouse. Today at the dawn of the seemingly consensual divorce, everyone is already here saying we told you so, as if the open secret was ever sought by its owner. All good, but it was known.

The subtext, which few are discussing today since it has already been discussed for all of the past two months, is that MotoGP as we knew it is changing face and color. First because Marquez is still Marquez, and if he is well he is competitive even on a tricycle, let alone a Ducati. Second because so many balances change, for fans, operators, sponsors and manufacturers.

We were so loved

Marquez did not like the new Honda that HRC brought to Misano for testing. It was the last opportunity the House of the Rising Sun had to keep one of the most extraordinary motorcycling talents of all time with them, and they played it badly. It’s not your fault, it’s my fault, and all that sort of stuff you say when you break up and you know the truth weighs a little too heavily to bring it up right at the end. That’s the official story.

In fact, reports say that the new design is not so terrible. Sure, flunked by Marquez and Nakagami, but promoted almost with flying colors by Bradl and Mir, the other sides of the moon. Alex Rins’ opinion would have been useful, if the Catalan talent on LCR’s force (not for long yet, because if Athens weeps, Sparta certainly doesn’t laugh) hadn’t been beaten like a drum at the beginning of the season by the very RC213V. Another goodbye and thank you.

In fact, the technical project has been the elephant in the center of the room for several years. The bike that does not mota, the development that does not develop, the progress that does not progress. Many point the finger in Minato’s direction, forgetting a fundamental fact in the Japanese organization, which is that the Japanese are extraordinary bureaucrats. The infinite layers of management that are at the very foundation of Japanese industry mean that every decision is not only time-consuming but often extensively modified along the way from the bottom to the top and then from the top to the bottom. It is an organization that is impossible to compare with that of more agile manufacturers such as KTM, Aprilia, and Ducati, where decision making takes three floors of stairs and probably an afternoon.

What happens to Honda is the same as what happens to Yamaha, and it is not unlike what happened to Suzuki a year ago, when the company in Hamamatsu pulled the plug on the MotoGP project while it was winning in Valencia with Rins. Likewise, it should not be forgotten that the Japanese, even in their complex management structure, always arrive. And when they arrive, they arrive with the power with which a company of 16 million mopeds produced per year arrives. The same one that was reviled on its return to Formula 1 in the middle of the last decade and is now instead the unbeatable power train of the record crunching Red Bull.

Now, it is clear that Honda has suffered terribly from Marc’s absence in the 20-plus months of his physical ordeal. Then again, it is unthinkable for things to stop working if the one for whom they were designed is no longer at the handlebars. Basically, and stopping to dance around it, it was not surprising to see that no one, from Mir to Espargaro to Rins to Nakagami, has been able to come to terms in the last five years with a bike that was designed for Marquez. A bike that fit him like a glove, and was always unrideable for others.

On the right track

Net of the initial shock, Marc’s departure is good news for Honda’s engineering department, which can now go back to the drawing board without the pressure of having to design the bike that pleases its multiple world champion, as well as for all the other houses. Honda is starting from scratch, and this is not necessarily bad news: with no ambition and no expectations, the Racing Corporation can start doing what it does best again, which is to design great motorcycles quietly.

Ducati can finally complete the puzzle, putting the Desmosedici to the ultimate stress test, as well as equipping itself with someone who is likely already capable of aiming for the world title right away. Rumor has it that Borgo Panigale is already preparing for Marquez -who at this point is two- an official Desmo, like those of Bagnaia, Bastianini and Team Pramac. It is precisely for this reason, most likely, that Ducati has said yes to Marquez but no to his entourage, who either remains to wear the Repsol blouse or finds himself looking for work. The distrust probably stems from the fact that Marquez has signed for only one year with Team Gresini while the weather says KTM in 2025, which is why Bologna would like the Bolognese to be working alongside 93, and not the Spanish who then take away goat (the rider) and cabbage (the technical details) the following year.

On the KTM side, and especially Red Bull, the separation papers signed by the Cabroncito and Alberto Puig smell good. If there was no room for the Cervera rider this year-because KTM has more riders than motorcycles-the future is instead full of possibilities. KTM is expecting Acosta -thenext big thing- post 2025, and would certainly not mind a lineup in which Marquez is also in, as well as probably Binder. Red Bull is ready, it seems, to put its own spin on it to close the circle and complete in the grand international design an incredible multi-sport dream team, which would testify once again to its extraordinary media, sporting and economic power.

The others are watching, well aware that such a shift in weight can open up great opportunities, both in terms of on-track performance and contractual possibilities.

Guess who’s coming to dinner

At the level of entertainment, viewership and ratings, Marquez’s move from Honda to Gresini can only be an extraordinary wild card in Dorna’s deck. Like it or not, Marquez is an exceptionally talented and combative rider, as well as an important media figure. Putting him on what is now the best bike in the pack could be any fan’s dream.

It remains to be seen whether he will be able to be fast right away and whether the Italians will be able to be patient: the previous cases of Rossi and Lorenzo (who started winning on the final, however,) are not a good litmus test, especially considering the different technical levels of the bikes and the vehemence of the competition. If we were to make a comparison, it’s a bit like Hamilton going to Red Bull, Mbappe ending up at Manchester City or Stephen Curry wearing the Denver Nuggets’ singlet. In short, take your pick of which sport is your favorite, but market-wise it’s hard to find anything more interesting.

Precisely for this reason, and to end on more appropriate notes for these pages, this “great resignation” of cerverian memory is excellent news for sponsors, partners and broadcasters, who will be able to take advantage of the surge in global interest and a reshuffled roster. Marc is an indispensable asset of this world championship, which if we had to find the hair in the egg is not lacking in phenomena but in characters. The new Gresini rider is the most marketable of the entire grid and the most sought after by companies interested in two wheels. Having him uncompetitive and unmotivated at the bottom of the grid is not good for anyone, neither for the companies that sponsor him nor for the others, since the most important thing for any partner is a healthy, competitive championship with high values in the field.

It is, in short, the beginning of a new, small era for MotoGP: a brief one-two year thaw in which the balance is bound to change, but in which the end result is likely to be better than what we will leave behind.

Put your brand front and centre of MotoGP with RTR Sports. We specialise in MotoGP sponsorship, as well as Dakar Rally sponsorship and WorldSBK sponsorship. Contact RTR Sports to start your journey today.