Italian media assaults Marquez at his home
Relations in MotoGP have soured across the past week courtesy of an on-track clash between Valentino Rossi and Marquez at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Marquez claims that the pair of reporters confronted him at his home in Cervera on Friday and Alzamora says that the Honda rider must be respected as the situation escalates.
The Italians were from the TV show Le Iene (The Hyenas), which is described by Wikipedia as "a comedy/satirical show, with sketches and reports into political affairs and consumer issues".
In the latest unsavory episode following Valentino Rossi's penalty for clashing with Marquez in the Malaysian MotoGP, it appears Le Iene staff were planning to present a mock 'Cup of Shit' award to Marquez.
A translated post on the program's Facebook page reads:
“This afternoon we went to Spain to try to deliver to MotoGP rider Marc Marquez the 'Cup of Shit', a special award created to celebrate the 'deeds' of the Spanish champion. But things did not go as the two were expecting.
"We arrived near the home of the parents of the rider where we met Marc Marquez, his father, his brother and their friend. When we tried to deliver our cup we were attacked and a scuffle broke the camera and removed the video cards. Probably they wanted a bigger cup."
“Stephen and Alexander [the Le Iene journalists] are now in hospital, healing from their injuries."
Marquez's management have issued the following statement which, translated from Spanish, is as follows:
“Yesterday there were some unfortunate events in Cervera. A group of people appeared at the home of [Marc Marquez] and uttered a series of insults, performed certain humiliating and ridiculous actions toward the rider himself and even pushing and assaulting [his] closest relatives. Given the seriousness of the action, such acts have been reported and the normal course of criminal proceedings continue against such persons.
"As you all know, some very unfortunate events took place yesterday in Marc's home as a group of people showed up, shouting abuse and trying to get into his domicile and even assaulting some of his relatives.
"This goes beyond the limits of sports, such circumstances should never have occurred. Logically, we'll take legal steps with our lawyers following this situation."
"The important thing is that Marc is OK, he's trying to prepare as usual for the next race, training and carrying on with his routine. In the light of those events, we want to ask respect for Marc and his family."
"This situation is far from normal and we have to make sure Marc can prepare for the last Grand Prix and work as usual, going back to a normal life, Marc and his family deserve to be respected."