Marquez's secret weapon for taming the Honda

Honda is traversing one of the most paradoxical periods in the history of MotoGP.

It has wrapped up the riders' and constructors' titles in dominant fashion, with the teams' title still to be decided but Ducati only marginally ahead there.

Yet the disparity in the results of Honda's different riders is overwhelming.

Whilst Marc Marquez has taken 11 wins and six second places from the 18 races so far this season, his fellow Honda riders have struggled to even ride the RC213V to anything like its - or their - potential.

The most obvious case is Jorge Lorenzo, seemingly incapable of breaking a downward spiral that will go down as his worst ever season as he is yet to even score a top-10 finish.

LCR's Cal Crutchlow has managed three podium finishes so far, but will also reflect on a season that did not meet expectations.

While Marquez lauds the qualities of the Honda, Lorenzo and Crutchlow describe the 2019 version as being difficult to ride and have labelled it "critical", especially in terms of feedback from the front end.

This area has to be the key to understanding why the champion has been able to tame the 'beast' while the other two riders on the 2019 model (the second LCR bike used by Takaaki Nakagami and now Johann Zarco is '18 spec) cannot adjust and do not trust the bike.

Lorenzo is one of the slowest riders on the grid this season and he has suffered seven crashes - one more than in the same number of rounds in 2018 - despite having been one of the fastest last season on a Ducati.

The Honda does not forgive mistakes and has zero mercy for riders who take different approaches to attacking a corner.

The key is to be precise at choosing the exact moment to release the brake on corner entry, and then to immediately pick the exact moment to open the throttle on the exit.

This process is virtually automatic - release the brake, turn, open the throttle - and it must all be done at the right time and place, otherwise valuable fractions of a second are lost in mid-corner, there is an increased threat of a crash, and the rider's confidence is adversely affected as a result.

"Honda banned him from riding motocross because it was considered too dangerous and they didn't want him getting injured. He had to ride in secret" Marquez's father Julia

"The strong point of Marc's riding style is that he is always pushing the front, but he remains in control," explains his younger brother and lifelong training partner Alex Marquez, the recently crowned Moto2 world champion.

"It is not just that, but also that he is so quick at getting off the brake and onto the throttle in the middle of the corner.

"The most important thing is that he is the only one able to do it at the correct moment on every single lap of a race."

And as far as Alex is concerned, being a good motocross rider is one of the key talents that gives his brother this kind of control. Marc's assistant at the races, Jose Luis Martinez, is a five-time Spanish motocross champion and Marquez "a lot of the time is just as fast as him" Alex reveals, adding: "In motocross, Marc is the boss".

So could this be the secret weapon that has allowed Marc to dominate MotoGP over the last decade?

"I was born into motocross, so [it's] more than a good way to train for me; it is my big passion," admits Marc.

"I love it because every lap is different. You change your lines and you have to react quickly to the unexpected, in a way that ensures you don't lose speed, overcoming obstacles every time.

"I think that helps a lot to know how to avoid crashes or to react to the unexpected."

Julia Marquez, father to Marc and Alex, is the person who had the most influence over Marc as a youngster and the one who encouraged him to get on a motorcycle.

"Motocross is his greatest passion, the thing he loves the most," says Julia. "When he was a child, Marc started to ride enduro, but then he discovered motocross and he fell in love with it.

"Then came the road racing, and I remember when I signed him up for a series and I struggled to convince him, because he wanted to be on his cross bike whenever he could.

"When he first signed for Honda they banned him from riding motocross because it was considered too dangerous and they didn't want him getting injured. He didn't enjoy that period because he had to ride in secret and couldn't do it as much as he wanted."

Two or three years later, with the bargaining chip of his 2013 and '14 titles in his pocket, Marquez headed back to the dirt with nobody at Honda even daring to question it.

"He is very competitive and sometimes he needs holding back a little" Marquez's training partner Jose Luis Martinez

"For him it is fundamental, because it helps him to improve his reflexes and to improvise in the unexpected situations that come up in MotoGP," his father continues.

"He has even raced in the odd round of the Spanish championship and finished ahead of professional riders."

Marquez's close friend Martinez retired from motocross racing five years ago. He was the Spanish champion five times before becoming the MotoGP rider's personal assistant and sparring partner in training.

"If it was down to him he'd ride motocross every day," says Martinez.

"But as well as the MotoGP weekends he has a lot of events to attend. He still usually manages to find time to get dirty a couple of times a week.

"We tend to ride on soft circuits so that means the surface changes every lap. That helps him to improvise, to look ahead and to stay focused, taking decisions on the fly. Motocross is his comfort zone - there are no cameras and no fans, so it is a great way for him to disconnect.

"This is my fifth year with Marc, but we used to train together a lot before that. He has improved a lot during that time.

"He is very competitive and sometimes he needs holding back a little. At the start I could beat him easily but around 2015 or '16 he made a massive step forwards and I had to push harder and harder to compete with him."

The former MX star is in no doubt that Marquez's passion for the off-road discipline is also the driving force behind his unique ability to win races on the 2019 Honda.

"I am convinced of it, because in motocross you are constantly moving, you are never 100% in control, there are no electronics, and all of this helps him to control the front end of the Honda, which they are all saying is quite critical this season," says Martinez.

"It also helps him out in wet or mixed conditions. That's when you see which riders train by riding motocross and which don't."

Suzuki's Joan Mir is another MotoGP rider who is a regular on the Spanish motocross scene.

"I normally ride once or twice a week," he says. "It is quite a difficult discipline, you have to be very precise and the circuit conditions change on every lap, so you have to adapt to that.

"It is a great way of learning to improvise, training your reflexes and supplementing your physical training. The main things are precision, strength and improvisation."

Clearly every rider has their own way of doing things, but while Crutchlow and Lorenzo continue to spend a large part of their training programme on cycling and cardio work, Marquez has always given huge value to motocross.

And it's a way of training and of developing his skillset that has now become his secret weapon in taming the 2019 Honda.