Marc Marquez faces six-month layoff after third surgery on arm

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Other teams already shaking in their boots.

But everything has been different for a week. Marc Marquez 'crew chief Santi Hernandez announced: "When Marc returns, he will also think about winning the title."

This statement made it clear that the six-time MotoGP world champion, who won the first ten races in 2014, will certainly not return to the racetrack until May. Portugal (May 16-18) seemed a realistic target for returning to the racetrack.

But on the last test weekend (March 5th to 7th) at the Losail Circuit, the first rumors about an earlier comeback made the rounds in the paddock, which also spread to the works teams from Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM and Aprilia.

On Monday, an interview published by Repsol-Honda with the 28-year-old superstar confirmed the latest assumptions: Marc Márquez would like to fight for championship points at the first Qatar GP on March 28th - almost exactly eight months after his last ride the factory Honda C213V.


https://www.speedweek.com/motogp/news/172451/Marc-Marquez-Comeback-beim-zweiten-Katar-GP.html
 
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Would like to fight is not the same as actually being out there and fighting.

We have 18 days till the opening race, and he hasn't been on a motorcycle since the aborted comeback at the 2nd Jerez race. I really feel strongly that attempting to comeback for Losail is a bad idea. I'm happy to be proven wrong though on this, but it just seems far too ambitious and unrealistic.
 
Perhaps it is just a down payment and first salvo in the psych war that will dominate before, during and after his return.
 
Funny thing is... MM not being that big a guy, it doesn't really look all that strange, him zipping around on a glorified pit bike.
 
Keshav said:
Funny thing is... MM not being that big a guy, it doesn't really look all that strange, him zipping around on a glorified pit bike.
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It really puts his size into perspective when he doesn't look really any larger on a small bike like that. Good to see though he's getting knees and elbows down already. I have to imagine for someone like that, having had to wait this long just to ride a bike in any capacity must have been brutal. I haven't ridden since the end of 2019 and it's driving me nuts so I can only imagine for a guy who's entire life is based around riding.
 
JPSLotus said:
It really puts his size into perspective when he doesn't look really any larger on a small bike like that. Good to see though he's getting knees and elbows down already. I have to imagine for someone like that, having had to wait this long just to ride a bike in any capacity must have been brutal. I haven't ridden since the end of 2019 and it's driving me nuts so I can only imagine for a guy who's entire life is based around riding.
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Mmm... got my bikes out of the tent/shelter and into the garage the other day, but waiting another week to get the batteries out of my house and into the bikes. Gets too cold here with all the sub-30 degree weather; kills the batteries. Can't wait to get out.

I imagine when Marquez does actually get back on a real bike, it'll feel pretty surreal.... for about two minutes and then it'll be like last year never happened.
 
JPSLotus said:
Would like to fight is not the same as actually being out there and fighting.

We have 18 days till the opening race, and he hasn't been on a motorcycle since the aborted comeback at the 2nd Jerez race. I really feel strongly that attempting to comeback for Losail is a bad idea. I'm happy to be proven wrong though on this, but it just seems far too ambitious and unrealistic.
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I feel the same, but presumably his doctors would not be anything other than conservative given previous events, and would have to be completely confident that the bone has fully healed and is as strong as it has ever been; misfit might have a more informed perspective in that regard. I guess he would know himself whether he has regained muscle strength in his arm.
 
michaelm said:
I feel the same, but presumably his doctors would not be anything other than conservative given previous events, and would have to be completely confident that the bone has fully healed and is as strong as it has ever been; misfit might have a more informed perspective in that regard. I guess he would know himself whether he has regained muscle strength in his arm.
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I agree michaelm. His current doctors will be conservative about decisions considering what happened before. Everyone's ... is on the line.. not only Marc's.
 
misfit said:
I agree michaelm. His current doctors will be conservative about decisions considering what happened before. Everyone's ... is on the line.. not only Marc's.
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Do you think it would be completely healed now given the time frame ?. I presume they eradicated the infection early after the third operation, and will they leave the rod which I believe was the final fixation method as you said should have always been the case from the getgo, forever ?.
 
michaelm said:
Do you think it would be completely healed now given the time frame ?. I presume they eradicated the infection early after the third operation, and will they leave the rod which I believe was the final fixation method as you said should have always been the case from the getgo, forever ?.
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He left hospital on Dec 13. That's 3 months. A typical fracture would have fully healed by now. His construct with vascularised bone graft seems to be doing very well. Some bony remodelling will need to occur, prolonging the healing time, but I suspect things are very stable now and he should be able to more strenuously work the arm. Healing will then speed up further. Each individual is different and the check X-Rays would give a good idea. But if they are allowing him on a bike, this is a good sign.

I doubt that he will be ready for Qatar though. I'd be surprised, but it's not impossible after 3 months.

What's more important is how good he looked in the video with him in the gym. He seemed to be using the limb normally and this is important. What a relief!! He will likely return full steam and will rapidly have the incident behind him physically. Mentally, I doubt it. He will change, but I do believe he'll still be a 'killer', just a more tempered one.
 
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misfit said:
He left hospital on Dec 13. That's 3 months. A typical fracture would have fully healed by now. His construct with vascularised bone graft seems to be doing very well. Some bony remodelling will need to occur, prolonging the healing time, but I suspect things are very stable now and he should be able to more strenuously work the arm. Healing will then speed up further. Each individual is different and the check X-Rays would give a good idea. But if they are allowing him on a bike, this is a good sign.

I doubt that he will be ready for Qatar though. I'd be surprised, but it's not impossible after 3 months.

What's more important is how good he looked in the video with him in the gym. He seemed to be using the limb normally and this is important. What a relief!! He will likely return full steam and will rapidly have the incident behind him physically. Mentally, I doubt it. He will change, but I do believe he'll still be a 'killer', just a more tempered one.
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From today's session...see attachments.
 

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misfit said:
:superman:
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This boy is something else. He looks like he's picked up right where he left off. The amount of rubber he is leaving down under braking means he's pushing the limits on that bike already. Can't wait to see him back on the prototype machine soon to see how he does with that. Certainly in all sports the mental side of things is huge even though it rarely gets talked about at much length, but I find myself wondering if the other riders have seen this stuff by now and are starting to feel a tad bit demoralized that he doesn't appear to be showing any ill-effects. Of course no one really knows other than him and his inner circle if there are at the moment. Imagine thinking he wouldn't even be at Losail, and now you're wondering if he might actually ride?
 
JPSLotus said:
This boy is something else. He looks like he's picked up right where he left off. The amount of rubber he is leaving down under braking means he's pushing the limits on that bike already. Can't wait to see him back on the prototype machine soon to see how he does with that. Certainly in all sports the mental side of things is huge even though it rarely gets talked about at much length, but I find myself wondering if the other riders have seen this stuff by now and are starting to feel a tad bit demoralized that he doesn't appear to be showing any ill-effects. Of course no one really knows other than him and his inner circle if there are at the moment. Imagine thinking he wouldn't even be at Losail, and now you're wondering if he might actually ride?
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Yeah saw the longer video on the motogp website. It's like nothing ever happened. As you said the other rides must feel a bit demoralized if they see that video. I have to agree with that. If he does show up for Qatar, will be interesting to see if he goes for the win or collect points.
 
misfit said:
He left hospital on Dec 13. That's 3 months. A typical fracture would have fully healed by now. His construct with vascularised bone graft seems to be doing very well. Some bony remodelling will need to occur, prolonging the healing time, but I suspect things are very stable now and he should be able to more strenuously work the arm. Healing will then speed up further. Each individual is different and the check X-Rays would give a good idea. But if they are allowing him on a bike, this is a good sign.

I doubt that he will be ready for Qatar though. I'd be surprised, but it's not impossible after 3 months.

What's more important is how good he looked in the video with him in the gym. He seemed to be using the limb normally and this is important. What a relief!! He will likely return full steam and will rapidly have the incident behind him physically. Mentally, I doubt it. He will change, but I do believe he'll still be a 'killer', just a more tempered one.
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Yes, thanks, my considerably less knowledgeable take as well, with absolutely everything going right from the 3rd operation on, the graft taking perfectly, the infection being eradicated immediately, immobilisation initially even with the fixation device etc he may have had just enough time for complete/sufficient healing. There were also rumours of nerve damage at the time of the injury which a year may well have been enough to resolve as well. As a physiological freak like all these guys and still in his 20s with absolute determination and the best possible training/rehab etc you would expect him to get the strength back in his arm fairly rapidly, and he may already be close to having done so, going by his own account anyway.

As we have both agreed his doctors must be totally confident that the bone is sufficiently healed given all the circumstances.

If he doesn't stop riding as extremely as he was, particularly the crashing to find the limits in practice he really is crazy, but if he settles for podiums rather than wins on occasion when appropriate this will likely make him even more formidable in terms of winning titles imo, he has already done this in a couple of seasons post 2015, including winning the title with a significantly impaired shoulder all season in one of those seasons.

I am unsure of the final method of internal fixation, but will they eventually remove the device ?. Presumably if they are intending to do so they will leave it till the end of the season regardless.
 
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michaelm said:
he really is crazy
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While we don't often get to see a riders real personality anymore, the one word I have heard from a few riders is that Marc is crazy. He was able to tone it down after 2015 but I'm not so sure that the Honda ever got significantly easier to ride. If anything the 2020 model was worse than previous versions. Maybe the injury will cause Honda and Marquez to realise that they can't always sacrifice rideability for speed as has been the reported M.O. from Marquez and Honda. An easier ride might help him tone it down.
 
michaelm said:
Yes, thanks, my considerably less knowledgeable take as well, with absolutely everything going right from the 3rd operation on, the graft taking perfectly, the infection being eradicated immediately, immobilisation initially even with the fixation device etc he may have had just enough time for complete/sufficient healing. There were also rumours of nerve damage at the time of the injury which a year may well have been enough to resolve as well. As a physiological freak like all these guys and still in his 20s with absolute determination and the best possible training/rehab etc you would expect him to get the strength back in his arm fairly rapidly, and he may already be close to having done so, going by his own account anyway.

As we have both agreed his doctors must be totally confident that the bone is sufficiently healed given all the circumstances.

If he doesn't stop riding as extremely as he was, particularly the crashing to find the limits in practice he really is crazy, but if he settles for podiums rather than wins on occasion when appropriate this will likely make him even more formidable in terms of winning titles imo, he has already done this in a couple of seasons post 2015, including winning the title with a significantly impaired shoulder all season in one of those seasons.

I am unsure of the final method of internal fixation, but will they eventually remove the device ?. Presumably if they are intending to do so they will leave it till the end of the season regardless.
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I don't know what fixation they used but they certainly wouldn't be in any rush to remove anything. What pleased me the most was when I saw him casually using the hand, there was no evidence of significant nerve injury. Good for him.
 

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