MotoGP bosses appoint bodyguards to Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez for this weekend’s Mugello round

MotoGP bosses appoint bodyguards to Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez for this weekend’s Mugello round.

MotoGP bosses at Dorna have laid on bodyguards to look after Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez at this weekend’s race event at Mugello, Italy.

The move comes after last year’s championship round and the aggressive outpouring from some sectors of the Italian crowd that favour Valentino Rossi. Reports were rife after last year’s round that some so-called ‘fans’ had spat on Marquez and Lorenzo fans in a disgusting show of aggression after the race.

Defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo said: “Well, in the paddock I don’t know if it’s necessary. Maybe outside the paddock?

“There are a lot of fans in Italy, and you never know how a fan can react. So the bodyguards are there and if we don’t need them, it’s okay. If we do need them, they are ready to work.”

Marquez says that he is against the idea of the protection (he also has a bodyguard assigned to his younger brother, Moto2 rider Alex Marquez) and added: “Honestly since I arrived here I feel good. The fans are just asking for pictures and autographs. This morning when I go out of the motorhome I see a bodyguard, and honestly I already said to Dorna that I don’t need a bodyguard.

“I don’t want a bodyguard. I want to feel normal. This is (just) another circuit and I think we are in a sport where this will not happen. So I already told them that I don’t need. Just I feel great and this is most important.”

In January MoreBikes reported that 4000 Marc Marquez fans had said that they weren’t going to Mugello this year for fear of attack. They claimed that they were spat on by Rossi fans last year.