Marc Marquez, fourth surgery on his arm: "Right to do it now, running like this is a nightmare"

At Mugello Marc and Honda announce another operation on his injured limb in Spain in 2020: it will be held in the US and will consist of grafting bone material to improve shoulder and arm rotation. “I worked hard, but I have not seen progress and I cannot drive or have fun: now is the time to do it because I want to give myself another chance”, the words of Marc

by the correspondent Massimo Brizzi

May 28

– scarperia (fi)

Another stage of Marc Marquez’s ordeal is on the horizon: it is not known if it will be the last, but it will certainly postpone even more the return to full fitness and competitiveness for the Spanish champion. At Mugello, after qualifying, Marc Marquez announced in a special press conference, held together with Honda HRC manager Albert Puig, that he will have to undergo another operation on his injured right arm in the fall of the 2020 Spanish GP.

the announcement of puig

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Something was in the air, even if Marc in the meeting with the press on Thursday denied that “at the moment there was this option” and the official announcement came within minutes of an 11th place on the grid for the Spaniard, the result of great suffering. . It is Puig who broke the news: “It’s been 18 months since Marc’s last operation on Marc’s arm and we have decided that after Mugello he will stop to undergo another operation, this time in the USA, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. During this time he has been working hard, but despite his efforts in Madrid with his medical staff, he continues to suffer severe movement restrictions that have prevented him from performing at the highest level. Before that was not the case because it was not the time yet. right, but now the circumstances are there and yesterday we made this decision. ”

season over

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Marquez will travel to the United States on Tuesday 31 May for the surgery, which will be performed by the staff of Dr. Joaquin Sánchez Sotelo. The operation should consist of grafting bone material, apparently an osteotomy, to improve rotation and shoulder movements and involves a long recovery time. The rehabilitation will continue in Spain and only then will the recovery times be assessed: Marc’s season, however, can be considered over.

nightmare

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He says it too: “So it doesn’t make sense, driving is a nightmare and I don’t enjoy it, so it’s right to work with a view to 2023 – the words of Marc Marquez -. I thank Honda for understanding the situation, I know that by racing I could get some podiums, but my arm hurts and continuing I could do even worse: I also started to have pain in my left arm because I pushed on it too hard “. A lot of bitterness in Marc’s words, who this season also had to miss two GPs, Indonesia and Argentina, due to the recurrence of diplopia, the doubling of vision, triggered by a fall in the Mandalika warm up. “I don’t know when I’ll be back, nor how long it will take: one of the strong points has always been mental strength, otherwise I would have already given up – says Marc -. I know what my talents are and also my limitations and given the problems I feel it was right to do. something to get improvements: in October we talked about it, but the bone was not yet in place, and now the conditions are in place “.

a chance

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The ordeal, underway since the 2020 Spanish GP, has never stopped: Marquez says it clearly. “From the first injury, everything became complicated, the infection got worse and despite the last operation working, since my return I have always felt too many limitations and you can see that I do not drive with my style and as I would like – in Marc’s words – . I would have liked to have avoided having my arm open, but I didn’t see any improvement even with the hard work and evaluating everything we decided to do it. Despite everything last year I won some races, so it’s right to play this chance. ”

delicate moment

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The 2022 world championship, and hopefully only for this year, thus loses one of its most iconic and representative pawns, which does not benefit either the show or the following of the whole MotoGP. The news from Mugello is just the latest link in a chain of errors that calls into question all those who surrounded the Spanish champion and whose supply chain can be traced back to the poor management of his hasty return after the Jerez flight. To make Marquez even more superhero, the fiber of an exceptional champion has been damaged, who is experiencing a humanly dramatic and very delicate moment and who should reflect well on what bad advice he has received in the past. At all levels, medical and team. Now he only counts looking ahead and hoping that the next one can only be the competitive stage in the career of a fuorioclass, not yet another tile of an ordeal that he does not deserve and that we try to summarize here.

the stages of the ordeal

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Marquez was injured on 19 July 2020 for a high side in Jerez while he is recovering after his mistake with exceptional times: the verdict is hard, fracture of the humerus. On 21 July Marc undergoes surgery at the Dexeus clinic in Barcelona by the staff of doctor Xavier Mir: the operation consists in the insertion of a titanium plate, fixed with 10 screws. On Saturday 25 July Marc tries to run the second GP on the same track as Jerez: he runs in Free 3 and tries Q1, but gives up due to the pain that is too strong. It is the gamble that will pay dearly. On 3 August the sample is still operated on, again with doctor Xavier Mir: the plate inserted in his arm bent due to an “accumulation of stress” due to the opening of a window. Doubts grow. The Spaniard starts using a carbon fiber brace, in September he starts training with running and bikes and does a lot of physiotherapy, but on 10 November Honda HRC announces that Marquez will not participate in the rest of the 2020 season. On 3 December the Honda rider he undergoes a third surgery, this time at the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid, with the medical staff composed of Samuel Antuña, Ignacio Roger de Oña, Juan de Miguel, Aitor Ibarzabal and Andrea Garcia Villanueva. The operation is used to remove the previous plate and replace it with a new one with the addition of an iliac bone graft with free corticoperiosteal flap. Among the side effects there is also an infection that forces Marc to remain under observation for 10 days in the hospital for a specific antibiotic treatment. Marquez works hard, but misses the first GP of 2021 in Qatar: however, he climbs on a mini bike on March 13th. Marquez also drives the RC213V-S, a road version of the Honda and then returns for the GP of Portugal, from 16 to 18 April, after the approval of his medical staff and that of the medical commission on the track. After 265 days and 9 months of rehabilitation, the Spaniard disputes FP1 in Portimao and finishes third. In the race he will be even seventh: “One of my greatest career results,” he said. The glimpse of light becomes a glow on June 20, in Germany: 11 months after his injury Marc Marquez returns to success, the eleventh in a row at the Sachsenring. That light, which seemed definitive, has become dark again at Mugello. For the sake of the sport there is only to hope that it will be rekindled.

May 28, 2022 – 5:39 pm