Red Bull Motorsports
MotoGP
Watch out MotoGP™, Marc Márquez is coming back for his throne
The eight-time world champion is about to make his long-awaited MotoGP™ comeback and all signs suggest he's going to be gunning for the top of the podium.
In July 2020, Marc Márquez suffered the most significant injury of his career so far. Over nine months later and he's just confirmed his return for the Portuguese GP at Portimão. As the Spanish rider explains it, his comeback has been delayed for so long because he wanted to be sure of coming back at 100 percent. Great champions differ from good competitors in that they are determined to come back from injury stronger, more mature and with their ambition intact. Great news for us, the viewing public, but a scary prospect for the rest of the grid.
To have eight world titles, one in 125cc, one in Moto2 and six in MotoGP, you have to be an exceptional rider. In Marc Márquez several virtues that are difficult to find in the same person come together: talent, hard work, intelligence, aggressiveness, experience, courage and a touch of mischief.
Márquez is determined to come back stronger
© Jaime de Diego/Red Bull Content Pool
Marc always comes back stronger after injuries
If we look back at the competitive career of the Repsol Honda Team rider, we can clearly see that he hasn't been exempt from his fair share of injuries: broken limbs, a serious vision problem, both shoulders that dislocated so easily that he had to undergo surgery. But the mother of all injuries came in 2020; a broken humerus (in itself a rare injury in motorcycling) that was followed by a string of complications.
Despite the physical setbacks, he's always continued to display that Márquez-brand speed and aggressiveness. In the 2019 season his worst result was a second place, with the exception of the fall suffered in Texas (a circuit at which he'd previously been invincible). His career stats clearly place him in the motorcycling version of Olympus.
I've learned that you get many races, but only one body
Márquez has often pushed the limit until he falls in practice and, with the lesson learned, gone on to win the race. Another of the qualities that have put him ahead of his rivals has been his ability to save situations that would have brought any other MotoGP rider to the ground. The front end of the Honda is hard to tame and no one masters it better than him. His saves are now legendary and demonstrate a mastery of the bike that, at times, has seemed to contradict the laws of physics.
Marc Márquez at the Catalan MotoGP™ 2019
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that it wasn't the right decision to try to ride in a Grand Prix only four days after undergoing surgery for a ruptured humerus, the fourth-longest bone in the body. The positive thing about the injury is that Márquez has grown as a person and as a rider. He'll have used the experience to make himself even stronger.
What has the injury taught me? That things can end when you least expect them to, but that's not going to change my style
Let's review the nine hardest nine months of Marc Márquez's competitive career, in which he had to undergo surgery three times.
A comeback cut short
Márquez suffered a severe fall on July 19, 2020, during the Spanish Grand Prix held at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto circuit. After leading the race, he went off the track at one point and then climbed 13 positions until a spectacular crash abruptly halted his comeback. The motorcycle hit his arm and fractured his right humerus. From then on it was going to become a difficult year.
Marc Márquez leans into a corner in Jerez
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
The first operation
He underwent surgery on July 21, 2020. The fracture was fixed with a plate and it was found that the radial nerve had not been affected. At the Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona, the operation was carried out by Dr Xavier Mir and his team, in collaboration with Dr Barrera.
Injury testing at the Grand Prix of Andalusia
After having surgery on Tuesday, the Repsol Honda rider made the decision not to compete in the Andalusian Grand Prix, but only after completing Saturday's two free practice sessions.
"Throughout this process, I've listened to the doctors and to my body. Today, in the morning I felt good and we were satisfied with our progress. However, when the time has come to lower the times – at that point you have to be less consistent and a little more aggressive – the arm had no strength. I don't know if it was because of the inflammation or the heat, but I knew that I had to listen to my body," he confessed.
The second surgery
Márquez's arm is operated on for the second time on August 3, because the titanium plate was damaged by an accumulation of stress. "Marc Márquez underwent surgery 13 days ago and today he had to undergo surgery again. An accumulation of stress in the operated area has caused the implant to give way, consequently a per-implant fracture has occurred, for which the titanium plate has been removed and replaced with a new fixation," explained Dr Mir.
Back in for a third operation
He undergoes surgery at the Ruber International Hospital in Madrid at the beginning of December 2020, where he's treated for a pseudoarthrosis of the right humerus (infection in the bone). During the operation, the previous plate was removed to place a new one with an iliac crest graft. The operation lasted eight hours.
Better, but better not to risk it
On March 22, 2021, 15 weeks after the third surgery, Márquez was able to step up training and the injury responded well. However, considering his long break from racing action and the length of time needed for a bone to fully heal, the doctors recommended a gradual return to action in order to avoid putting the arm at risk under the huge strains of competition.
The all clear!
On Friday, April 9, the doctors finally released the reins of the thoroughbred and gave Márquez the go-ahead to take part in the Portuguese Grand Prix on April 18.
Injuries are inevitable in competitive motorcycling and the Repsol Honda rider has been no exception. What's been clear throughout his career, though, is that, despite the setbacks, he's always returned stronger and faster, and with the lesson learned.
Not seeing things clearly
The fracture of the right humerus has been the most serious physical problem that Márquez has had in his career, but in 2011 he suffered another mishap forced him off the track and into the hands of doctors for months. The problem began on October 21, 2011, when he was fighting Stefan Bradl for the Moto2™ title, which until that point he seemed to have in his pocket.
An error on the part of the Sepang track marshals, who failed to warm riders of standing water on parts of the track ahead of practice, caused several riders (who were running on slick tyres) to hit the deck – Márquez among them. After a hard fall, he began to feel dizzy and doctors advised him to rest back at the hotel. On race day, he was still seeing double and sat the race out on safety grounds: "You have to have 100 percent vision, because you are going over 200kph and it's not only your health you have to think about, but also that of the other racers," he explained.
Márquez discusses his vision issues in 2011
© Repsol
In the following weeks the vision problems continued and he was forced out of the season-ending Grand Prix of the Valencian Community, which handed the Moto2™ title definitively to Bradl. "Although we finished second, we had a great season," declared the young rider, who was also Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, the vision problems persisted.
Eye surgery and back to his best
On January 16, 2012, Márquez underwent surgery to correct the vision problems that had been causing him to see double for over three months at the Hospital Clínico de Barcelona.
The 2012 World Championship began just a couple of months later, on April 8 in Qatar and Márquez brilliantly rode to victory in Moto2™ on his return to competition.
The season to follow was going to be more than brilliant. Not only was he crowned world champion, but he also added nine race victories to his tally and won the title with a margin of 59 points over Pol Espargaró, his new team-mate at Repsol Honda.
Márquez celebrates Moto2 victory in Valencia in 2012
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
The record champion from Cervera has suffered several serious injuries throughout his racing career and has always come back stronger and more determined than ever. As an English journalist put it: "When the cat returns, the mice stop dancing."
