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On the eve of the Le Mans round, Nadia Padovani, team principal of Gresini, spoke to our Spanish colleagues at Marca, retracing the emotions of the podium conquered by Marc Marquez in Jerez. A podium painstakingly won after a spectacular duel with defending champion Bagnaia, his first on a Ducati after several difficult years in Honda. Difficult years that prompted the multi-time Spanish champion to rely on the embrace of the Gresini family for his own rebirth, a rebirth that is taking shape before everyone's eyes, first and foremost those of the team members.
Despite the fact that it was not a victory, that second step on the podium and the celebration that followed had all the flavor of a fully-fledged victory. The images of Marquez dancing went around the web, so it can be said to be a turning point.
" It was a great celebration, " Padovani commented , "We had been chasing this podium in the long race for a while, in the Sprint we had gotten it in Austin which was already positive but we were hoping for a result on Sunday as well. After some difficult moments we managed to get on the podium. For Marc, for the team and for everyone it was a great moment. We are proceeding one step at a time because even for Marc adapting to the bike is a complicated process, but we are already at a good point."
A result that has the fans dreaming, and thanks to Martin's crash the fight for the championship has been reopened. Yet while Marc Marquez on the one hand continues to keep his expectations low in terms of the title fight, the team has always been very positive about it.
"These points will help us go up and get closer to the top," Nadia Padovani continued, " so we will have to do well in the next races because bringing home points is what counts and what makes the difference. However, I never said that we will definitely fight for the title, although it is clear that when you have an eight-time world champion on your team you expect to be able to fight with results for a top 3. If Alex who has already been with us for a year knew the bike better, that's not the case for Marc, we knew he would need a longer path after riding 11 years on the Honda. It is not easy to get on such a different bike, so he had to do his homework. But it's clear that finishing the season in the top 3 or top 5 is an achievable goal, but it's still early, we'll see race by race. I think by mid-season we will have an idea of where we can finish in the world championship."
Results aside, however, it is undeniable that the situation surrounding Marc Marquez has changed dramatically. If before we were talking about suffering and injuries, now the focus is all about the joy and positive feelings of being back to being able to fight at the top, like last weekend in Jerez.
"I think that coming here to us has helped him to live again, to be serene, to smile . With us he started living again, and we are all very happy, especially after the podium in Jerez that we have been chasing for so long."
Having grasped the dream of signing a name of Marc Marquez's caliber to their team, now the dream would be to be able to retain him.
"It would be wonderful," Padovani commented, "but the contract is for one year, so we'll see, it's not entirely up to us. We'll see what Marc wants to do, I know he has a plan but we don't know the details either."
