The human importance of Marquez’s latest enforced MotoGP absence

Marc Marquez’s announcement last Saturday at the Italian Grand Prix that he will step away from racing in 2022 to have a fourth operation on the right arm he badly broke in his 2020 Spanish Grand Prix crash confirmed speculation he had – to that point – been denying, that such an eventuality was on the horizon.

The truth was a half one. On Thursday at Mugello, the six-time world champion was not about to walk away from the championship to have more surgery. But he had been in consultation about it.

As far back as last October, when he was sidelined with double vision problems, Marquez began to ponder the idea of a fourth major operation on his arm. Since his return last April at the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix, Marquez has been a shadow of his former self.

The invasive operations he had in 2020 had forced the humerus to rotate from its normal position. It stopped him from training as he would normally, and also led to issues with his shoulder. While the bone had healed when he came back to racing, he was having to ride in a different way.

On clockwise circuits predominantly consisting of right-handers, his problems were exacerbated more. On anticlockwise layouts, he was masterful. At the Sachsenring and Circuit of the Americas, he romped to victory, while at Aragon he narrowly missed out on the win to Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. And at the clockwise Misano, he benefitted from Bagnaia’s crash to take a third win of the 2021 campaign. It seemed there that the old Marquez was slowly working its way back to the surface. But the reality was very different.

“My daily life is affected a lot,” Marquez said of his right arm. “I was training a lot at home with motocross, with road bikes, with any kind of bikes I was training a lot [before the crash].

Despite three wins since his comeback from injury, Marquez hasn't been able to ride or train like he used to

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Now normal life is go home, rest for two, three days because I can’t do anything, just some legs, some cycling. And then I start to train again, physio, painkillers. I say to my doctors and to my people, riding like this I will do one more year, two more years – not more, because I am not enjoying it. I’m suffering a lot and I cannot support this on the mental side.”

Marquez is a rider who keeps under the radar. His outpouring of emotion after finishing seventh on his Portugal comeback was the first time the six-time world champion appeared genuinely vulnerable and offered a glimpse at the hell he’d been through since the previous July.

But across 2021, despite missing four races and crashing out of four more, he was still comfortably the top Honda rider by 40 points and the only HRC rider to take race wins. It ultimately prompted Honda’s radical overhaul of its bike for 2022, as the injury woes for its main star allied to his team-mates' struggles on the RC213V meant it needed a more user-friendly motorcycle.

"Riding like this there are up and downs and I can be on the podium at some circuits, but it is not the way I want to ride. I am suffering a lot and it creates other injuries and I cannot continue riding like this" Marc Marquez

Marquez, however, told Autosport in February in Indonesia that he could have won the championship in 2021 on that Honda had he been in a better physical condition. What had become clear over the first seven races prior to Mugello was that he definitely wasn’t able to win the title on the 2022 RC213V, and perhaps not at all.

His race weekends have been heavily conditioned by his arm injury. He has to ride more reservedly on Fridays to keep himself in a good physical shape for the race, and so his Sunday preparations are interrupted. Throw on top of that his tireless work trying to steer development of the RC213V on Fridays and Marquez has been facing a constant uphill battle this year.

However, once again, regardless of all of that he is still easily the top Honda rider in ninth in the standings on 60 points – 20 clear of team-mate Pol Espargaro, who is facing the exit door at HRC for 2023.

So, while his title hopes for 2022 have been non-existent, it’s obvious that there is still a chance for Marquez to be the way he was before his injury – the rider that won six world titles inside his first seven years of MotoGP, putting him one away from equalling Valentino Rossi’s once thought untouchable career numbers.

Marquez has struggled with Honda's 2022 MotoGP bike which added extra pressure on to his injury comeback

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“The way I am riding, like this, I am suffering too much and I’m not enjoying it,” Marquez said after announcing his operation. “Every weekend is a nightmare to keep pushing.

“But it is true my body is the same one and the way to go now is to prepare for 2023. It is true that I want to say thanks to Honda because they believe and support me a lot. We will see.

“Even riding like this there are up and downs. I can be on the podium at some circuits, but it is not the way I want to ride. I am suffering a lot and it creates other injuries. I cannot continue riding like this.”

Why Marquez didn’t go for the operation sooner was because the right humerus bone wasn’t ready until now for such a major operation. He was given the green light for the surgery on Friday at Mugello between practice sessions, hence his response beforehand to rumours of the operation. Had it come sooner, he admitted after finishing 10th in an “emotional” Mugello race that he wouldn’t have taken part in the Italian GP at all.

Marquez will travel to United States for the operation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, with Doctor Joaquin Sanchez - recommended as the best in this field - overseeing the procedure. According to Honda team boss Alberto Puig, the operation is as follows: “The surgery will consist of the extraction of the osteosynthesis material on the right shoulder. Also, together with a humeral osteotomy to improve the external rotation in the arm and stability in the shoulder.”

The length of his recovery is currently unknown, and could be anywhere from four months to six months. Marquez said his doctors told him to not bother coming for the operation if he was thinking about how quickly he could get back on a bike. Regardless, we have likely seen the last of Marc Marquez in MotoGP 2022.

That is a far from ideal situation for Honda and for MotoGP in general. But it is a necessary sacrifice to be made. Few are in any doubt that once back to full fitness Marquez won’t be fighting at the front of the field again.

“For me, Marc was – and is – the best rider of the last 10 years and he had really tough last years,” reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo said. “For a rider already to have an injury and come back is already difficult, but he came back and won three races last year, he was fighting, he never gave up.

Marquez says he wouldn't have competed at last weekend's Italian GP if he got the news to have surgery sooner

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Whatever the decision was before he did the press conference, I will support him and wish him the best recovery and hopefully he will come back and we’ll have great fights like we did in 2019.”

Ultimately, though, Marquez finding more success is immaterial. What matters most now is that he simply gets back to a position where he can enjoy his life again. That, as the man himself, notes will be the ultimate victory.

“It has been a complicated year and a half, but it has toughened me up a lot and I hope it will be a point to ride the way I want,” Marquez said in his final media debrief at Mugello. “Then, if we win or not, we’ll see. It’s not about having surgery and winning; for me, to have surgery and have fun again, it will be a victory.”

And a Marquez who is having fun is a dangerous prospect for the rest of the MotoGP field…

Will the old Marquez return after his latest surgery comeback?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images