When Marc Marquez crossed the line at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, there was no longer any doubt, not about the title that felt inevitable for weeks, but that he had achieved something deeper by completing one of MotoGP's greatest comebacks.
Six years had passed since he last stood proudly on the summit of motorcycle racing - years filled with doubts, crashes, broken bones and whispers of retirement when the most dominant rider on the grid often looked like a ghost of himself.
But aboard the red Ducati that had once been his nemesis, he was not just winning races but conquering the grid as he got his hands on the elusive seventh premier class crown to go level with long-time rival and MotoGP great Valentino Rossi.
"I'm at peace with myself ... It was the most difficult challenge of my career. I arrived in MotoGP and straight away I was winning," Marquez said after the finish at Motegi.
"But then, from the glory, I was in the deepest (lowest) moment of my career with a lot of injuries ... But I never gave up!"
SIX TITLES WITH HONDA
There had been a time when Marquez was untouchable, a whirlwind in Honda's red and orange when he was crowned champion as a 20-year-old rookie in 2013, before the new kid on the block became the man to beat when he lifted his sixth title in 2019.
But a crash in the season-opener in 2020 changed everything, his arm broken and his ambitions shattered.
Yamaha and Ducati also got their act together with superior bikes that gave Marquez a run for his money and as he desperately began riding the Honda beyond its limits, he inevitably suffered numerous crashes.
What followed was not just physical torment involving multiple surgeries, aborted comebacks and blurred vision, but also the erosion of
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