#if sete had called assen his best race of the season valentino would've reached for the chalk and incense even sooner

[batsplat]

following on from this. not to always bring marc into everything (sorry marc) but if assen 2015 had happened against jorge, valentino would have very likely pulled something similar again imo. rather than what he actually did, which is approach marc almost immediately for a nice normal friendly handshake and backing off during the podium celebrations. should be noted that during laguna seca '08, valentino was very much committed to yapping at casey on the podium with the world's biggest smuggest grin on his face

partly that disparity is because jorge not marc was the direct title rival, partly it's because valentino was treating marc with kid gloves right until the second that he wasn't, which marc was seemingly entirely oblivious to. if anyone other than marc had said what he said in that presser, had then continued on with similar rhetoric during sachsenring, valentino would quite likely have gone nuclear. he's done it over less than that. his fondness for marc made him continue to exhibit uncharacteristic restraint... except that fondness unfortunately is what left valentino feeling so very betrayed when (to his eyes) marc could not leave well enough alone

#it's so delightfully tragic isn't it. a lot of 2015 played out the way it did because valentino genuinely wasn't looking for beef #but then felt backed into a corner and decided he had no other option than to blow this shit up #if casey says 'what I think is that we won the race' valentino would've torn him a new one then and there like... #if sete had called assen his best race of the season valentino would've reached for the chalk and incense even sooner #though fwiw I do think the relationship was basically doomed from that point. something would have happened sooner or later #2015 is so funny conceptually because there was already something *off* about it most of the way through. you have the familiar beats #but they shouldn't be HAPPENING with marc. they should be happening with the actual title rival - who vale never properly fought all season #assen 2015 should've been laguna should've been catalunya hell it should've been assen 2004 but it couldn't be #valentino kept accidentally inflicting the psychological blows on the wrong guy because jorge just refused to end up in a straight fight #assen SHOULD have been a pivotal race. but of course it couldn't be because what psychological blow was jorge lorenzo being dealt? #btw the unwillingness to beef doesn't just extend to marc. valentino makes a concerted effort to be uncharacteristically friendly to jorge #still think he would've rubbed assen in his face but. overall! he was trying! which again. very ironic #funhouse mirror ass season i love it dearly #// #brr brr #slowly dipping my toes into dropping 2015 hot takes on tumblr dot com... for so long these have been between me god and my google doc #i love jorge i think he's been involved in a lot of iconic battles i think it's funny not a single one of them happened in 2015 #minus kinda phillip island but even there it did feel like the other three were Doing More than him #also just a different vibe to a proper one-on-one. a WEIRD title run where the third man that whole year walks away with the trophy