Coming away from the San Marino MotoGP this weekend, it is increasingly hard to imagine that Aleix Espargaro will be able to claim the most remarkable of World Titles for himself and Aprilia this season.
Following a sixth place finish around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Sunday afternoon, it is now six races since Espargaro last stood on MotoGP podium.
By contrast, victory in San Marino for Pecco Bagnaia means the Ducati rider has now won each of the last four races, a run that has now seen him leapfrog Espargaro into the second in the world championship, 30 points behind defending champion Fabio Quartararo at the top of the table, with six races to go.
Given the ability to string a run of race wins together that Bagnaia, just as he did at the end of last season, is now showing, and the fact that those remaining races come at tracks that ought to suit the Italian’s Ducati, Espargaro now looks to be facing an uphill task, given his own ability to find podiums now looks to have deserted him.
But even if that does indeed prove to be the case over the course of the coming weeks that are set to round out the season, it is not something that should take anything away from the Spaniard’s remarkable efforts over the course of the campaign.
Prior to the start of this season, the Spaniard had managed a grand total of zero wins and just three podiums in 281 race starts across the various GP classes.
It goes without saying, therefore, that he had never come anywhere near close to challenging for a world title.
All that though has changed over the course of this year, starting with a brilliantly taken first MotoGP win, both for himself and Aprilia in Argentina in early April.
Then there was the run of four straight third places that showed Espargaro was more than capable of handling the weight of expectation thrust upon him by his first win in the series, and talk of him as a title contender.
Beyond that, it is worth noting that some of the most memorable moments of this season have come courtesy of the 33-year-old.
After being innocently caught up in a Quartararo accident earlier this year, Espargaro’s fight through the field to claim fourth in the final placings was something special, whilst his double overtake of Brad Binder and Jack Miller on the final chicane at Assen needs to be YouTubed.
Meanwhile, his premature celebration of what he thought was a second-place finish in his home Catalan GP with a lap of the race still remaining – again, YouTube if you haven’t – while disastrous, also highlighted the incredible composure he has, in recovering quickly from that to claim a respectable fifth place finish.
All those efforts would undoubtedly be worthy of a considerable amount of praise going in the direction of a rider with much more experience of winning races and standing on the podium at this level.
So for Espargaro to have pulled that off after coming into the campaign with so little pedigree for competing at the top end of the field, and indeed Championship, just goes to show how much he has stepped up and delivered for himself and his team over the course of this season.
Beyond that, with teammate Maverick Vinales having now claimed three podiums in the last four races as he concludes his first year on an Aprilia, it seems as though the work that Espargaro has done in developing that bike since linking up with the Italian factory in 2017 , is now really starting to come to fruition.
Given Vinales is one of those who does possess the race and title-winning experience that Espargaro does not, it would be little surprise to see Aprilia once again competing for top honors in 2023.
Whether Espargaro himself will be the one to do, either in the latter stages of this season, or the next one, that may well remain to be seen.
But whether he does or not, what has already gone before this season for Espargaro, against so many odds, means that he has provided as much excitement and intrigue for followers of the sport this season, as any other rider on that grid.
While that may sadly not be enough to win him a title, it is surely enough to ensure that Espargaro can walk away from this season’s final race in Valencia in early November, with an overwhelming sense of pride at what he did, not to mention confidence about what he may yet be able to achieve in 2023 and beyond.
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