Since he broke his humerus in Jerez at that fateful 2020 Spanish GP, Marc Márquez always had hopes of being able to return to being the best version of himself. After overwhelming him since his arrival in the MotoGP World Championship, with six titles in seven seasons, his head told him over and over again that he could fight for the title again. However, he never imagined that it would take so long to confirm it. With the inertia of success, he erred in a certain haste, the same that led him to try to race 13 days after breaking his damn humerus and breaking the plates that joined his right arm. The ordeal, with more downs than ups, has lasted more than four years, in which he has grown as a rider and, above all, as a person. “Of course Marc has changed. Not only because of the accumulation of problems, but because of age. All of this has made him mature,” José Luis Martínez, his right-hand man on and off the track, tells EL PAÍS. No one, apart from his brother Alex and his partner, spends more time with him these days. “He has learned to restrain himself more, to not rush into races or training, or even in everyday life. Now he sees more the risks of pushing too hard, whether on the track or in the gym. With everything he has experienced, he has become an expert in knowing and listening to his body. He knows when he has to stop and rest. Before he didn’t think about anything other than training and training, but now he has become a top-notch physical trainer,” explains his assistant and best friend.
“Through hard work and sacrifice, I have been able to get back here, to compete at the highest level,” said the rider, who maintained his good form this Friday at Misano, with two solid second places in the first free practice sessions. “Obviously, I have to work harder than the others, or more than before. I have to do more engine maintenance. It is harder and more difficult now, everything that has happened in my life has made this happen. I have to work more hours, but this is my job and my passion, and if I compete it is because I see myself capable of it,” he added. He did not even celebrate his victory at Motorland in style, as he would have liked if he had a free weekend.
“Do you see this? This wasn’t for fun, it was to win again,” he told the Honda bosses after his fourth and final operation on his arm in 2022. He said this while showing them the tremendous scar that will accompany him for the rest of his life, visual proof of his ironclad determination. The eight-time world champion was still determined to recover at full speed. He started last year, finally fully recovered physically, determined to fight for the championship. “I will do everything necessary to try to fight for a title,” he said in an interview with this newspaper. The sad reality of the Japanese factory plunged him into misery, and there were times when he considered retirement. Was it him or the bike? He knew how to downshift and listen to those around him to find the answer. Among those who advised him the most were motorcycle legends such as Mick Doohan, Àlex Crivillé and Alberto Puig, all seasoned and knowledgeable about the effort required to recover from such a serious and disheartening injury.
With the help of the modest but competitive Gresini team, he managed to get on the Ducati, the best bike on the grid. He only focused on the sporting aspect, sacrificing everything else. “From the very beginning, the objective was to find himself again, and we all had doubts,” says Martínez. “But we no longer have them. He was in a hole, but he never lost hope and always held on to it.” His circle has always wondered if everything he experienced was worth it, from the missing Avi Ramon to his parents. Also his partner. The appearance of Gemma Pinto coincided with this disastrous journey on the sporting level, and those who know the 93 highlight her influence on the new maturity of Marc the person and Márquez the pilot: “Gemma’s arrival has been essential in this change, a very positive influence. In a short time she has become another part of the family, and she always adds to it.”
The new version of Márquez, with the magic of yesteryear intact but more patience than ever, allows him to be more cautious even in the press room. Despite having returned to the top of the podium after 1,043 days of drought, and being third in the championship standings, 70 points behind the leader, the Cervera native is still determined to remove himself from the title equation: “If I can finish 50 points behind, it’s better than 100. We will try to cut back, but for the World Championship I didn’t see myself in Aragón and I don’t see myself here either.” It is not easy to resist expressing that desire, natural for any rider, and even more so for someone who until last year, the year of 29 falls and despair on the Honda, still fully believed in his chances of finishing the year, always, at the top.
This Friday, in Misano, the Catalan also displayed his new maturity on the asphalt: “One of the points I have focused on the most has been not exaggerating, not going beyond what I felt at any given moment.” The 93 did not want to make up for his shortcomings on the Desmosedici, nor does he hide the fact that they still exist. The sensations that Márquez was looking for are those he already had in Austria, where only misfortune prevented him from fighting more closely with the leaders of the championship. “There I realised that my decision was the right one, even more so than in Aragón.” In San Marino he has reconfirmed that he is more comfortable than ever with the Italian machine.
“The important thing is that he has found himself again, that is clear. From there, it is Marc Márquez. As long as it is mathematically possible…”, warns Martínez when asked about the 2024 title. He does, however, mention the need to find that consistency that Jorge Martín and Pecco Bagnaia do show. “Next year, after a year with Ducati, and in the official team, of course the objective will be to fight for the World Championship,” concludes one of the people who knows the eight-time world champion best.
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