by H. Mayor – photo: motogp.com

Up until now Andrea Dovizioso was out of the spotlight having managed only a middle of the range performance on the first races. But in this fickle championship a second consecutive triumph is enough to jump to the fore and open up your options for the title. His great triumph in Barcelona was aided by some very bad performances from the top riders including a tenth position for Maverick Viñales who was at his worst yet. Dovizioso is now second on the classification and very close to the leader at just 7 points distance.

This volatile and fast-paced World Championship has also allowed for Marc Márquez to reach third position in the classification, despite all of his problems. At the Catalunya GP, Dani Pedrosa, who has also displayed a very irregular performance this season, lead from the start, setting a slow rhythm during the first eight laps. Viñales and Rossi were left behind from the beginning and it was Marquez and Dovizioso together with Lorenzo, pushing close behind, and unexpectedly Folger, that were competing at the lead.

Balance

The race got progressively more balanced and exciting up until the point when Dovizioso surprised everyone by breaking away at just nine laps from the finish line. The Italian rider pushed his motorbike to the limit and reached its top speed leaving behind all of his rivals. Dani Pedrosa had lead the race until then but he couldn’t manage the change in rhythm. Not only was he comfortably overrun by the Italian but also by Marquez who was the only one who, unsuccessfully,  attempted a fight for the triumph.

It was a race to forget for the Yamaha riders. Rossi was not in his best shape and came home eighth and Viñales couldn’t compete with Héctor Barberá and was only good for tenth. The weekend belongs to confident Andrea Dovizioso: the Italian who had only managed discreet performances and 54 points over the first five races of the championship. His two consecutive triumphs of the last two races propel him straight from the flanks to the lead as one of the main contenders for the title.

Also to bear in mind is the narrow distance between Márquez, Pedrosa, Rossi and even Zarco, all of them a just a good race away from the lead. The Championship gets more and more unpredictable.