MARQUEZ ‘NOT READY’
Mid-March check-up will rule if MM93 makes the season-opener
Marc Marquez has set his sights on returning to action at the opening race of the season in Qatar. The Spaniard spoke to the press for the first time since breaking his humerus at Jerez last July during Repsol Honda’s 2021 launch on Monday. But he confirmed he won’t be at the Qatar test, which begins on March 6, and any return will be subject to his doctor’s consent. He has a medical appointment in mid-March which will determine how well his bone consolidation is going. If all is going to plan, Marquez will aim to be on the grid on March 28. If not, he’ll target Qatar 2 the following week, and then round three Portimao and so on until he’s given the all-clear. “If it’s okay I will continue with my rehabilitation in the gym and with the physio,” Marquez explained. “I’m already working but not in an aggressive way. I’ll try to continue working in a good way to recover the muscles and to be in a good condition to ride the bike. I will ride a MotoGP bike when I feel I’m in an acceptable condition. Even now, if the doctor says tomorrow you can ride the bike, I’m not in a condition to ride the bike!”
Marquez admitted that he’s learnt a valuable lesson after trying to return to the track after only four days after his sickening Jerez crash last year and explained that the most difficult time of his recovery period was in September and October, where there were no clear improvements on a day-today basis.
It appears that Marquez’s road to recovery is nearing its end, however his return isn’t going to be easy, or is it guaranteed. If he does race at the opening round Marquez will have been out of action for just over eight months, meaning FP1, on March 26, will be his first outing on a MotoGP bike in 244 days. Meanwhile his rivals have all continued to improve and their self-belief is much higher with many becoming winners for the first time during the 2020 season. They’ll also have five days in the bag from the test.
Should he return a week later for Qatar 2 he’ll be even further behind on that particular circuit, one that he’s only won once at in the premier class (2014). Portimao is scheduled for round three and Marquez will be the only rider to have missed last year’s GP.
The expectation will be huge given his superhuman efforts in the past. This is the first time there’s been any doubts about Marquez’s ability to recover and return seemingly unaffected. Will the pressure to put on another show cloud his judgement? Marquez needs to be wary that one more bad fall on his arm could put his career in jeopardy.
Then there’s the way Marquez rides. His riding style is aggressive, needed to tame the RC213V, and Marquez rides on the absolute limit in every single session. He’s the master at saving crashes, but the problem is that he uses a lot of muscle to do so. As Marquez admitted, his rehabilitation hasn’t yet involved any aggressive work in the gym and he’s not been seen on any dirt bikes. Fortunately, it appears that Marquez will be mature about his racing return. “I can imagine the best comeback that is to start riding the bike again and be the same, but it will be difficult to be like this. But we will see if it takes one race, two races, half the season to be the same Marc,” Marquez added.
Of course, it’s impossible to predict how exactly Marquez’s return will go. Afterall this is Marc Marquez – an eight-time world champion who continues to rewrite the history books and put everybody on the edge of their seats every time he throws his leg over his RC213V.