C’est Magnifique (It’s Magnificent)
If you are a professional motorcycle rider, a typical race is hurling yourself into corners over 100 MPH in less-than-ideal conditions. Those conditions include, inclement weather, mechanical issues and fellow competitors aiming to box you out so they can get ahead. And that is on a good day.
But on the great days where things can still go wrong, you are doubly excited when they work out. Sunday was indeed a great day for Johann Zarco.
As the oldest rider on the MotoGP grid, Zarco has experienced twists and turns and not just with his signature, celebratory backflips. But his 150th start in Le Mans, France, at his hometown Grand Prix, has proven to be victorious.
With more rain on the horizon after the race start, Zarco and team gambled with wet tires, avoided the double lap penalty and bike change delays that so many of his competitors received, to gain the edge to win.
Lest you believe that it was only the smart tire choice that secured his win, it was not. It was the skill of the rider. The patience of the rider. The determination of the rider. And possibly his good fortune to invite his mother to her first Grand Prix on Mother’s Day to see the checkered flag wave first, for her son.
The race was not without its drama. Riders swapped their slicks and bikes and went down for various reasons throughout the race. Everything that could go wrong did for a lot of riders, and at the head of the pack was a lone Frenchman, staying the course. Zarco maneuvered around spills and pelting rain to hold off Sprint winner for the 6th week in a row, Marc Márquez. With tenacity, Zarco saw nothing but possibility to win in Le Mans.
It was in the cards for a Frenchman to win this weekend. Fellow Frenchman, Fabio Quartararo secured his 2nd pole position in as many weeks. The crowd hoped a Frenchman would end the 71-year drought of no hometown winners in the premier class of motorcycle racing. But Quartararo crashed on the fourth lap leaving Zarco to cement his place in history as the Frenchman.
With Sunday’s race concluding the record winning biggest weekend audience in MotoGP history, over 120,000 fans, watched 34-year-old Johann Zarco ride for 45 minutes in familiar conditions to win by 20 seconds and become number 1 on a podium.
-P. M. Daly