MotoGP ace Marquez admits broken right arm “will never be normal”
Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez says it has been “difficult to realise” his arm injury and admits it “will never be a normal arm” again after so many operations.


Marquez badly broke his right arm in 2020 at the season-opening Spanish GP, and ultimately missed the entire season having been forced to have surgery three times on the injury.
PLUS: Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Those operations left him with a right humerus that had rotated over 30 degrees from its original position, which was hindering him on his bike when he made his return three rounds into 2021.
Despite winning three times that season, Marquez felt he needed a fourth major operation on the arm midway through 2022 to have the bone rebroken and set back to its original position – something which forced him to take six races out following the Italian GP.
Returning in September at Aragon, Marquez scored a pole position in Japan, claimed his 100th career MotoGP podium in Australia and ended the season 57 points clear of the next-best Honda rider in the standings.
In an exclusive interview with Autosport last November in Valencia, Marquez says he “needs to accept” the limitations he will always have in his right arm despite the fact he is physically better than he was back in 2020.
“Of course, many times you think a lot of things about your arm,” he said. “And many times, it’s difficult to realise sometimes or admit that you have this injury.
“But, in the end you must say, ‘ok, this is what I have’. It’s true that I had the fourth surgery, it’s true that an arm that has been opened four times will never be a normal arm, because you have some limitations.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“But then you need to accept those limitations, try to compensate with your body, with different things.
“I’m not thinking a lot about it, just I’m thinking more how to improve, about how to manage it, how to adapt.”
Reflecting on the decision to have a fourth operation on his arm and miss more races, Marquez was left satisfied it was “correct” as he mentally couldn’t face another winter of recovery.
“For me, looking at this season, the sentence is this: I chose the correct decision, because one option was to finish the season and let’s see,” he added.
“But now, thinking that it could have been Valencia and then an operation and then a full winter with recovery, I was not ready to do it – on the mental side also.
“So, I chose the correct option to take the operation, to break my arm again and put it straight.
“For the future, we will see if I have enough power, enough strength, enough possibilities to fight for the championship.
“Life is better, coming in a normal way.”

How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
Rins didn’t think Honda “was such a bad bike” after first MotoGP test with LCR

Latest news
What Autosport is looking forward to in 2023
There’s a lot happening this season, so here are the highlights Autosport staffers and contributors are getting excited about…
Busch calls out "disrespect from everybody" in "disaster" NASCAR Clash
Kyle Busch has called out "disrespect from everybody" in Sunday's "disaster" NASCAR Cup Series pre-season Clash at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.
Why the time was right for Ford's F1 return with Red Bull
Some 22 years after pulling the plug out of Jaguar and handing the keys to a certain Dietrich Mateschitz, the paths of Ford and Red Bull have crossed again. And their 2026 Formula 1 alliance makes sense for both parties.
Vandoorne joins Peugeot WEC team as reserve driver
Reigning Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne will serve as Peugeot’s official reserve driver in its first full season in the World Endurance Championship in 2023.
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
Following Suzuki's decision to quit MotoGP, both of its former riders have landed at Honda for 2023. But perhaps its biggest signing from the now-defunct team could instead be a highly-rated technical manager. Is Ken Kawauchi the right man at the right time to steer HRC back to glory?
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Suzuki's unexpected departure left more than 40 professionals virtually jobless for the 2023 MotoGP season. But that human drama has been successfully corrected by the paddock itself, with most former Suzuki crew-members absorbed into other operations
How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
The Petronas Sepang Racing Team came into MotoGP with a bang in 2019 as regular front-runners, with wonder rookie Fabio Quartararo mounting a title challenge in 2020. But it all went wrong for the Razlan Razali-helmed squad as the team changed hands and tumbled down the order - and RNF Racing plans to right this in 2023
Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Marc Marquez’s sixth premier MotoGP title seems a long time ago given the injury woes he has faced in the three years since. At the end of a fraught 2022, in which he had a fourth major operation on his right arm, the Spaniard speaks exclusively to Autosport
How MotoGP’s underachiever is working to reverse its fortunes in 2023
As European manufacturers emerged as the strongest force in 2022 in a changing of the guard for MotoGP, one powerhouse couldn’t quite match the feats of Ducati and Aprilia. Its motorsport chief tells Autosport why this is and what it is doing to become a consistent frontrunner in the class of kings
How MotoGP riders are preparing for the physical stress of sprint races
With the expansion of the calendar to 21 grands prix and the introduction of sprint races, the 2023 MotoGP season will take the riders to almost 1,300 kilometres of competition more than this year, a factor that forces adjustments in their physical preparations.
The Ducati rider who is much more than just the brother of a MotoGP legend
Surname pressure is something many have had to deal with in their motorsport careers. And while Luca Marini doesn’t have that, his familial relation and the team he rides for in MotoGP have cast a brighter spotlight on his progress. But, as he has shown in 2022 – and as he reveals to Autosport – Marini is so much more than just the brother of a legend
Ranking the top 10 riders of MotoGP 2022
The 2022 MotoGP season was another hotly contested championship, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as the title winner after the campaign went to the wire. Autosport picks out the 10 best performers of the season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.