While Marc Marquez is officially out of the final race of 2020, a report concerning his condition has surfaced on The Race.
You may recall that Marquez badly broke his right arm (the humerus) during the opening race at Jerez this year, and decided to return immediately to race the following weekend. Things didn’t go well, and after withdrawing from the weekend, Marquez went back for a second surgery. The second surgery replaced a damaged plate affixed to the humerus bone during the first surgery.
According to The Race, the numerous screws placed in the humerus bone of Marquez may have weakened the bone, necessitating a third surgery and a bone graft. There is no official word from Honda at this point, but if true, this could potentially impact Marquez’ preparation for next season. Bone grafts can take several months to heal, delaying any aggressive rehab by Marquez. MD will update with any further news on this topic.
Alberto Puig who is now running HRC’s MotoGP race team should have never allowed MM to attempt to comeback only a week after that surgery. His great expertise, post Livio Suppo, has yielded Honda a position of 2nd from the bottom in constructors points…just one place ahead of Aprilia.
I have been a fan of moto GP-for yrs. Marc Marquez made a race alive like no others.
yes Roberts /Stoner/ Wayne Rainy / & many many more the list is long.
When Marc won his first champ/I was hooked on his riding style.( cool guy) Get well Marc!
Not the news I wanted to hear for Marc. I enjoy watching him race, and dominate. Watching him save the bike in his last race, and get back on the track with dirty tires and pass everyone to get back to third place shows why he is a multiple time champion. He never gives up and races at 110% all the time. This is what separates the champions from the rest of the field. He has done this multiple times as he moved up through the classes to the premier class.
I have no doubt he will be back and will one again win the championship. Hopefully there will be someone who steps up and gives him some competition so the races are more enjoyable to watch.
MM #93..the first one to send congrats to JM #36 on his WC.
Where’s Dr Rudy Wells when you need him?
spies had to retire when his shoulder didn’t come back together.
I guess its easy for us armchair racers to say he shouldn’t have attempted a return so quickly after the first surgery. I was concerned, as I’ve broken the same bone and worried he might aggravate it. Which, as it turns out… he did.
However, if he had a re-run of the entire affair, it’s likely he’d make exactly the same decisions, because at the time, he thought they were the right decisions.
In my mind, he’s not the victim of a hasty decision, but the victim of a sequence of events where the “universe” moved against him. Professional sport is a heart breaking business for most, and this proves even the best can come undone.
I hope he can get back to his previous level, but I fear the road may be longer than many think.
“but the victim of a sequence of events where the “universe” moved against him”
No. He and his team made the decision. They weren’t victims. They had access to years and years of prior similar situations. And, likely, the recommendations of his physicians. When things go wrong due to our bad decisions, we aren’t victims of an amorphous “universe”. We made choices and they turned out wrong. It’s on us. When we blame other things, we transfer control of our lives to those other things. That’s not how it works, IMO.
Agreed. The second any athlete hears the word “titanium” from the doctor about a plated bone, they almost always think they immediately have a substitute for a real bone and are indestructible.
Most regular people don’t even realize that titanium is ductile and yields easier than a hardenable steel. It’s not a magic material.
That why guys like me at 200 lbs or more can’t use titanium axles for hubs and pedals on our mountain bikes. 175# max for Ti on a MTB. The rest of us need to use 4340 CrMo.
Marquez made a poor decision believing Ti plate would be a good structural substitute and HRC was even dumber for letting him back on the bike. I get it. The season is shorter and even a week off can lose the title. That’s where their heads likely were.
You both make valid points. Particularly the one about Honda letting him back on the bike.
Let me rephrase my point. Given the same sequence of events, people usually make the same decisions (and they can be bad ones). He decided to roll the dice (as precessional racers do) and it ended badly.
He won’t be the last GP racer to do that, and that’s one of the things that makes them different to us mortals. I’m not sure us armchair riders really have any right to be critical of them.
I hope for his sake (and for his fans), he can regain fitness and confidence. I am concerned he may never be as dominant as he’s been.
Titanium bone reinforcement aside, the reason there are weight limits on Ti bicycle parts has less to do with the properties of the metal and more to do with the fact that all of these components (pedal and hub axles) were engineered around he properties of cro-mo steel, not titanium alloys.
I have a titanium road bike frame I’ve been riding since the late 90’s while I’ve turned over a dozen carbon fiber “other” bikes. It’s magic to ride and I expect it’ll be as good as new long after I’m gone.
“ That why guys like me at 200 lbs or more can’t use titanium axles for hubs and pedals on our mountain bikes. 175# max for Ti on a MTB. The rest of us need to use 4340 CrMo.”
The only reason for this is hose components are all originally engineered to be made from CrMo steel. The axles in my bikes are aluminum, which by volume is far weaker than both but since the parts were engineered from the beginning around that material there’s no strength issues.
I think ti is used in surgery because it’s light and inert, ie. Doesn’t corrode & isn’t magnetically sensitive..
Such a shame for Marquez; all that talent now has to sit and watch everyone else get it done.
Looking forward to next year.
Annnnnnnnnd THIS is precisely why Dovi hasn’t accepted any rides with lesser teams, never mind offers of test-rider duties. Dovi sees a clear path to what would be at least a temporary seat on the factory Repsol Honda, with his only Honda competition being Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez, and Takaaki Nakagami.
Nothing too concerning there. Easy to shine.
Say what you will about the guy, but no one can deny his cleverness. Dovi always knows what’s going on behind closed doors, what he’s doing, and why.
Pol has been faster than Dovi as of late and trails him by 11 points despite w more dnf’s. The Honda is still a hard bike to go fast on consistently. I’m not sure why anyone would be in a hurry to get on one of those.
Because the only alternative now is the Aprilia.
As for Pol, Dovi has been in the game far too long to worry about #44. Dovi routinely beats Pol like a drum, plus Dovi sees how well Nakagami is going on the Honda.
All things considered, the factory Repsol Honda ride is clearly the most competitive seat available to Dovi, if it should turn out that way.
Appears Dovi chose an alternative none of us considered… taking a year off to go race motocross in Italy.
I had heard Bezzechi was in line for the Aprilia seat…. then he turned it down
now I hear WSBK rider Chaz Davies may get the seat, but there are rumblings that might not happen either
Seems no one wants to ride the Aprilia
Hard to blame Marco for turning down the Aprilia. That is one factory effort that has certainly shown a lack of interest with respect to investing in the championship. I’m not even sure why Aprilia is even still in it. They had a fast bike they couldn’t keep together before the season started. Maybe that is at least an indication that they will invest in the future?
Haha. Actually, he’s been talking about that for the last three years at least.
Hopefully he takes 2021 off. He’ll heal better and the racing without him will be better. Plus 2022 would be interesting as well when he’d come back.
It’s rough news, if true. Marc has matured, and I’ve become more and more of a fan. Since he seems to be a good human being, I wish him a full recovery. As a racer, he’s among the best I’ve ever seen. It would/will be great to see him back on the track, fully recovered.
This happens when you put your ambitions ahead of your health, Marc was probably under a lot of pressure form the team and himself to continue in the racing season but at the high cost of his health, not worth it.
Not the first, nor the last. Even average joes will do this at the club and recreational level in any sport. Egos at all ages and levels.
I know lots of people, me included, that yak about how we’re not as young as we used to be the next day after doing an enduro, but we still push it anyway. Oh well, it’ll give us something to talk about when we’re in our wheelchairs waiting for the nurse to come around to dispense our anti-psychotic meds at Sunset Meadows assisted living.
I agree Egos and testosterone can cloud judgement. At the last track day I did there was a mandatory riders meeting. The first thing they told us is that they didn’t bring ANY Trophies, its not a race.
I still saw a guy laid out with his new 748 Ducati down in the beginners class. Two guys somehow had come together in a braking zone.
It’s interesting to ponder. At the end of the day, no matter if it’s a local club “B” race of the MotoGP world championship, we’re all doing it just for fun.
Ambitions ahead of health? These guys race the most extreme motorcycles available for a living. Health is pretty far down the list by default.
when i broke my collarbone once, i had a friend chiropractor who cautioned me not to go riding too soon, his comments about how if i kept moving it, it would never heal, still swirl around in my mind, when i read about this. I hope he gets it done right, even if he needs to take 2 seasons off, to do it.
Can’t imagine his apprehension and disappointment if this is true. He wants/NEEDS to be on the track racing. Anything delaying that has to be crushing.