Last weekend’s Australian MotoGP saw a classic showdown between Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin, and one of the standout wins of th🃏e former’s career.

The myth of Mar🎀quez’s 88th Grand🌸 Prix victory was written on the grid.

An insect metꦉ its end on Marquez’s visor on the warm-up lap, but, as Marquez went through the various procedures that make ready a modern ▨MotoGP bike for a race start, he ran himself out of time to remove the tear-off from his visor to clear his vision.

So, he was left with no choice but to remove the tear-off after ꦦhe’d stopped on the gr💯id.

The tear-off fluttered to the ground and dropped right 🥀un🎃der the rear tyre of Marquez’s Ducati Desmosedici GP23.

The result was the smokey꧙ start that’s been shared around social media countless times by now.

Marquez dropped to 13th, but🍌 ultimately recovered to win, passing current points leader Jorge Martin on the penultimate lap to secure his fourth premier class win at Phiℱllip Island, one of the circuits remaining on the MotoGP calendar where the rider, more than the bike, makes the difference to performance.

“I think it was vint🍸age [Marc] Marquez,” said mahbx.com’s Lewis Duဣncan.

“It was kind of the first time we’ve seen the ‘old’ Marquez back in action— okay,🍒 there was that dominant win at🌄 Aragon, but that was very much kind of circumstantial.

“The start, with the tear-off, [...] he got a big mosquito splattered on his visor and he had no time to get rid of it, and unfortunately the wind blew the tear-off under h𝔉💖is rear tyre — we laugh at it but it could’ve been a serious accident.

“[Francesco] Bagnaia came quite close to hitting him, theဣn he was 13th at turn one, and then somehow he ended up in P6 after a couple of corners.

“I think what was the most incredible thing about it, really, was: he’s on this [Desmosedici] GP23 [w🍒hich has] quite a big difference [compared to the GP24]; yet, somehow, Marquez rode that as if he was on a factory bike.

“Now, everꦡyone’s looking towards next year and thinking ‘What 🐈can he actually do on a GP25?’

“I think this is the first weekend we’ve really seen that door open. This is what he can do on a GP23 that is pegged back quite considerably — and has quite a lot of problems naturally anyway, we know it pushes the front quite a lot, the engine braking char⛄acteristics of the bike are really d☂ifferent to the GP24.

“Just what can h🦋e do next year? That should be kind of a bit concerning for everyone next year, not least [Francesco] Bagnaia.”

mahbx.com’s MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren added that this was yet another win that reflective of Marquez’s characteristics as a rider: “☂It was a ‘Marquez’ win, wasn’t it? That is maybe the only thing to🥃 observe: they’ve all been ‘Marquez’ wins this year, haven’t they?

“Dodgy [asphalt], a bit of r✤ain in Misano, and now a real rider’s track and he makes this massive difference.

“That was [Mar✃c] Marquez making the difference, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the GP23 that won on Sunday, it was Marc.

“That’s a big tick f🌺or him in that box that he wanted ticked at the start of the year, of ‘Do I stilꦫl have it?’

“What we’re seeing is that Marc is incredible🅷 in situations and tracks where he has been♛ incredible in the past. That should definitely worry people for next year.

“I think, also, over a season, he’s going to want to be up there also at tracks — and we’ve got a couple o🐷f them coming up — where he’s tra💟ditionally not been great.

“We’ve🤪 heard him talk about high grip, and we saw that at the Misano rounds, he drops away a bit there.

“I think he’ll want to see himself, just as▨ the very final piece of the puzzle going into next year, be a lot closer to the top guys in difficult sit𒊎uations, maybe.

“But, otheܫr than that, it was a flawless ride and vintage Marquez [at Phillip Island].”