Remember the Cybermen, from Doctor Who? Scary races of machine-men and living computers who share all their experiences in a massive network. And that makes them really daunting, because any trick you might use in a fight against them only works once. Fool one once, and all of them learn and adapt. Your victories only help them slowly iterate towards perfection, all through data, data and more data. Why am I waffling on about sci-fi when we just had a spectacular race? Because the Cybermen are in MotoGP, too, but here they're called Ducati. Each bike gathers more and more data, sorted and organized by algorithmic machine learning brains forever searching for speed. So what happens when that advantage disappears? Well, it's not a great day to be on a Ducati if your name is not Marc Marquez. But what does that mean? For one, it's showing the capabilities of the riders in a whole new light. But it also shows that, under the right circumstances, the Ducati's may be less removed from the Aprilia- and KTM-machines than they care to admit. And Marc Marquez? Well, five years after a horrific injury he's still the winner. There's a story there, and we've got Mat and Peter to tell it. So strap in, because we're lifting off!Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

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