Yamaha’s big shake-up
New bike and new-look team for Rossi and Viñales
Marc Marquez is back on track on a bike, although not quite in the way you might expect!
Nearly two months after extensive shoulder surgery to repair a heavily damaged joint, the world champ jumped aboard what’s believed to be a specially-liveried Honda NSF100 mini bike at Circuit d‘Alcarras near his home in a bid to get back into the groove after the longest absence of his career. He’ll return to action properly this week at Sepang for the first pre-season test of 2019. “I needed this,” the Repsol Honda rider said afterwards. “I touched my elbow on the ground. At least on the flight to Malaysia, which is 14 hours long, I’ll be thinking I’ve ridden a bike, got on the brakes, felt the throttle and clutch. We’ve done a few laps that helped me see where things are.” Marquez has said that the shoulder operation involved more work than originally forecast, upsetting plans for winter training. “It won’t be 100% in Sepang but my target has always been to be fit for the first race in Qatar. The operation was more aggressive and more difficult than expected. The doctors said the
‘We’ve done a few laps that helped me see where things are’
minimum recovery would be three or four months, but I’m working hard and it is going in the right direction. “How it’ll be in Sepang I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see, but every day I feel some improvement and it gets better and better.”