When Jim Redman saw Marc Marquez for the first time, he thought, ‘It won’t last like this.’

Still in 2010 Marquez He missed 30 races between the start of 2020 and the end of 2023, mostly due to a serious arm injury.

Jim Redman says Marc Marquez looks ‘brave’.

to speak MarkTwo-time world champion Redman admitted he judged Marquez too harshly at the start. He had the ‘instinct’ to avoid a collision where any other rider would have gone down.

Redman said this was most evident at the Sachsenring and COTA circuits, where Marquez collected 15 wins in the premier class alone.

Marquez has effectively built falling into his riding style, Redman said, despite the obvious risks.

He said: “I’m telling you the truth, when I first saw Marc Marquez I thought he was brave. He crashed and crashed again and crashed again. In my day anyone who’s had that much is dead or retired. There was no third option.”

Are you surprised by Marc Marquez’s longevity in MotoGP?

“I looked at him and thought, ‘This kid’s not going to last.’

“Sachsenring: year after year, corner after corner, he goes in fast, the front end loses grip, the bike falls. For any other rider, it’s a crash, but Marquez holds on. By elbow, by instinct, by something that doesn’t have words. Not just once, but every single lap.

“I saw him at the American District in Austin. Same pattern, impossible ride. The bike fights him in every corner. The tires drop, the rear end slides, the front end drops, and he’s still attacking.”

I sat and thought about all the drivers I had seen. Marquez had it all. At the same time that the bike was trying to kill him, that’s when it dawned on me: yes, he crashes more than anyone else in history, but that’s the point. Ride over the limit and the risk is the cost, the loss. It pays and returns regularly.

Why Jim Redman thinks Marc Marquez is the greatest of all time

At 94, Redman has seen every contender for the ‘greatest of all time’ mantle in motorcycle racing and thinks it belongs to Marquez.

Now the seven-time MotoGP champion, the Spaniard has redefined what it means to take risks.

Marquez can surpass Valentino Rossi. Although he found himself 36 points behind Marco Bezecchi after the first three rounds, Giacomo Agostini secured the eighth highest position this year.

“I spent my whole career thinking that greatness was about being on the edge, managing risk, surviving, but Marquez made me rethink everything. He didn’t stay on the edge, he didn’t survive, he was himself.

“The other four riders are legends, each one changed the sport. But at 94, if you ask me who is the greatest I have ever seen, there is only one answer: the man who did the impossible routine.”