At the end of the year, Giacomo Agostini gave himself an early Christmas present and it is also for our greatest happiness. Indeed, the one who sits in the kingdom of statistics with fifteen absolute titles has opened his personal museum that everyone can visit. The opportunity to look at the current generation of champions of whom he doubts less and less that one of them will erase it from the shelves, and perhaps even during his lifetime...
Giacomo Agostini opened his museum and he is still waiting for people to come and do better than his 15 world titles. But to say that is to limit the debate. Because the times have changed, as have the competition and its drivers. As reported by “La Repubblica” Ago, on the occasion of the inauguration of his trophy room declared: “ each era has its champion. Ubbiali, Hailwood, Redman, Rossi and Márquez now. How can we tell who is the best? During these years, many technical advances have been made and the pressure is great. In my time, instead, there was more fear, we saw our colleague die every two weeks »
Ago then continued: “ the 15 championships I have won make me the most successful, but I know that overtaking could happen. Valentino Rossi is currently at 9 titles and I can say that he will not reach me. Marquez, on the other hand, is talented and young, but also too reckless. He must avoid all these falls, they never do any good. However, they are two great champions ».
Exactly, regarding Marc Márquez, Agostini does not see why he should change manufacturers to prove his worth: “ we all know he wins today, he has nothing to prove. He is at Honda, the biggest company in the world, he is treated with white gloves and the red carpet is rolled out for him. He doesn't have to prove he can go fast with another bike. I changed bikes because the 4-stroke engine was at the end of its career, while the 2-stroke engine was progressing. So I decided, with a lot of sacrifice and regret, to change in order to continue winning, and it did so by winning other world championships with Yamaha. »
It was therefore a strategic choice and not a personal challenge. By this yardstick, Marc Márquez can continue to string together titles and victories like other pearls to the great joy of Honda.
