What do you have to do to beat Marc Marquez at the moment? Put him at the back of the grid? On the evidence of Le Mans, that's not going to make a whole heap of difference.

After a terrible first lap, Marquez was down in 10th place. Would this finally see the end of his domination of MotoGP? That illusion lasted precisely 12 laps.

It took him less than half the race for the reigning world champion to slice his way to the front of the grid with surgical precision, passing the best riders in the world as if they were standing still. Right now, Marquez is unstoppable.



It was one of the most impressive rides I think I have ever seen, on a par with Valentino Rossi's laps at Phillip Island in 2003. Then, Rossi had to unleash everything he had been holding in reserve to make up for a 10 second penalty imposed upon him for passing under a yellow flag.

At Le Mans, Marquez demonstrated a similar superiority over the rest of the field. Nobody was able to hold him up for a second, each pass perfectly executed, and perfectly clean. Perhaps Valentino Rossi could have put up more of a fight, but the Italian ran wide just as Marquez approached. 'I did one mistake in 27 laps, but in the crucial moment of the race,' Rossi said.

Should we really be surprised that Marquez is capable of coming back from such a long way behind? Not really, given the young man's history. Marquez has done it twice before in Moto2, at Motegi and at Valencia.

At Motegi, he hadn't double-checked that his Suter was in gear, and so was left standing when the lights went out at the start. He headed into the first corner the last of 35 riders. Halfway through the first lap, he was already up to 10th, and took the lead within 10 laps.

At Valencia, he was forced to start from the back of the grid after a nasty move on Simone Corsi during free practice. It made no difference, he had passed 22 riders by the end of the first lap, and went on to win that race as well. Marc Marquez has passing other riders down to a very fine art.

Marquez is still Mr 100%, winning the first five races from pole, and there are very few signs of anyone being able to prevent him. So overwhelming is Marquez' dominance is starting to bring the conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork.

Over the weekend, there was much excitement in various Italian media outlets over the use of the so-called torductor on Marquez' Honda RC213V. The torductor is a torque sensor mounted directly on the Honda's output shaft, which allows the forces going to and from the back wheel to be very precisely monitored. It is used as an input to Honda's engine management software to manage the traction control and wheelie control on the bike.

Some of the wilder theories ascribed almost magical abilities to the combination of torductor and Honda's ECU software. It was used, so they said, to allow traction control to be used predictively, extrapolating tyre wear and grip levels for future laps from measured inputs over the previous laps. It was being combined with the clever 3D motion models taken from Honda's ASIMO robot and artificial intelligence algorithms to help the bike to turn and improve acceleration. Marquez' bike was clearly vastly superior to the rest.

There are a number of problems with these theories. Firstly, Honda's predictive software has been used by Yamaha since at least 2010. Masao Furusawa, former head of Yamaha's MotoGP project and the man credited with turning Yamaha's prospects around, explained to journalists that they had been using software which monitored inputs throughout the race, running real-time simulations on the data collected to project grip levels for the rest of the race, and optimise engine torque and traction to get the most from the available grip. Honda's use of a torductor merely allows the torque to be monitored more precisely.

Secondly, and more significantly, Marquez' RC213V is not the only bike with the torductor fitted. All of the Hondas on the grid, both factory and satellite, use the device, just as they did last year. The factory Hondas were even using it in 2012. Yet Jorge Lorenzo became champion on the Yamaha in 2012, and won more races than Marc Marquez in 2013.

Marquez may well be cleaning up, but the bikes finished Honda, Yamaha, Honda, Yamaha, Honda, Yamaha, Honda on Sunday. Clearly the Honda is a great bike, but it is not the RC213V which is dominating, it is Marc Marquez. To quote Valentino Rossi on the subject, Marquez is 'the only who can squeeze the bike to 100%.'

That Honda know exactly what kind of magic they have in their hands was made evident when they signed Marquez up for another two years ahead of Le Mans. The Spaniard will ride for the Repsol Honda team in 2015 and 2016, earning a healthy pay rise. According to well-informed Spanish media, Marquez will earn around seven million euros a year, with victory and championship bonuses coming on top of that. Given that the bookmakers now have Marquez at 1/25 to take the title, that is money well spent for Honda.

Marquez' signing was the first of MotoGP's silly season, starting unseasonably early this year. At Le Mans, Valentino Rossi revealed he was also close to renewing for another two years with Yamaha, with a deal likely to come at Mugello, given that it is the Italian's 300th Grand Prix, and at his favourite track in the world.

This leaves both Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo unsigned, but those same Spanish sources reported that Pedrosa has been offered a massive pay cut by Honda for next season. The contract on the table cuts his base salary from several million euros to around 1.5 million, with generous bonuses for wins. Given Marquez' current voracious appetite for victories, those bonuses could be few and far between for Pedrosa.

Pedrosa has another option in Suzuki, but that would be a massive gamble. The Spaniard would earn a very good wage at the Japanese factory, but getting wins would be even more difficult. Suzuki have a history of never quite investing enough in the Grand Prix projects to produce a competitive bike. Suzuki could turn out to be a very frustrating experience for Pedrosa.

Then there's Jorge Lorenzo. The double world champion has said publicly that it is his intention to stay with Yamaha, but he is believed to have an exceedingly lucrative – in the region of fifteen million euros, if the rumours are to be believed – offer from Ducati. Honda, too, have shown an interest, something which Marc Marquez would not be too enthusiastic about. At Austin, the youngster made a barbed comment on the issue, saying he was not worried about sharing a garage with Lorenzo, as Honda was unlikely to make him an offer based on his results this year.

The truth hurts, and Lorenzo is doing himself no favours with his current slump in form. During free practice, it looked like the old Lorenzo was back, the Yamaha man banging in long strings of very fast laps. In the race, however, Lorenzo was all at sea. In part, that was down to a set up change, made in the morning to try to find more traction by moving weight to the rear of the bike.

More important was the fact that he had a poor start and found himself floundering in mid pack. Lorenzo, and Dani Pedrosa with him, have always been famed for their outstanding starts, the product of which has been to leave them with an empty track ahead. Neither Lorenzo nor Pedrosa are used to having to slog their way through six or seven men to reach the front, and are having difficulty in finding a rhythm. As the race progresses and the field starts to thin out, both men start to find their feet and make their way forward. By that time, though, the race is lost, and the results are gone.

Marquez' skill appears to be his ability to brake very late and deep, and pivot the bike on the front Bridgestone tyre. With it looking increasingly likely that Michelin will take over from Bridgestone from the 2016 season, you have to wonder whether Marquez will be able to keep doing that trick. Changing tyres is one of the most radical changes a rider can experience, with the feel and feedback being completely different. Riders have to unlearn everything they know and start all over again, discovering the limits and learning how the tyres react. Marquez is exploiting the Bridgestones to the full, but if Michelin bring very different tyres – which they almost certainly will – then he will have to find another way to go fast. He will at least still be young, giving him a good chance of learning.

Next up is Mugello, and if there was one track where you would say that Marquez' winning streak could be ended, it would have to be there. Bridgestone will be bringing exactly the same tyres to the track that they did last year, meaning Jorge Lorenzo will have a known quantity to deal with. Valentino Rossi is once again competitive, at a track he regards as his spiritual home, and where once he dominated. He has made guest appearances on the podium for the last three years, but only because he has been called there by the crowd. This year, Rossi is looking to return to the podium on merit.

He will also be gunning for the win. His hunger is undiminished, and working with new crew chief Silvano Galbusera has produced notable progress. With Lorenzo wanting to redeem his miserable start to the season at a track where he has won the last three races, and Rossi fighting for his honour, as he put it at Le Mans, Marquez will face his toughest challenge of the year.

Even then, you wouldn't want to bet against him...