Marc Marquez was forced to miss the last two races of the 2021 season and remain stationary for another three months due to a concussion remedied during a training accident that also resulted in diplopia, double vision caused by the nerve injury.
The Honda rider had to relive moments similar to those already experienced in 2011, when he crashed during Moto2 practice in Sepang and the gravel damaged his eye. This brought a period of uncertainty to the Spaniard’s career, and the same thing happened this winter when he found himself forced to recover from the same injury.
Last month, however, Marquez received the green light to return to the saddle of the MotoGP and carry out the pre-season tests. The eight-time world champion said his experience with the 2020 arm injury helped him recover from that of sight. In an exclusive interview with Autosport / Motorsport.com last month, he said: “The last time is getting tougher, because you forget the first time. But this time it was harder, because I knew what would happen ”.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“When it first happened to me in 2011, every day I was like, ‘OK, today? No’. Every time I woke up and opened my eyes I wondered if that day was better. But this time, when the doctor told me that I had the same problem and that there would be three months of recovery, I felt like I was experiencing a déja vu and I gave up asking myself if I was better. I have decided not to set any date for my return. I relied on time, otherwise it would have been impossible ”.
Marquez’s eye injury came just as he was recovering from his arm, which kept him out of the races for the entire 2020 season and which affected him during the first half of 2021: “It’s also true that with as the months go by, when you see that your eyesight improves and you realize that February and the first race are close, you begin to feel a little anxious. You wonder what happens, but I have given up again because the recovery takes from a minimum of three months to a maximum of a year. The doctor told me there was an operation, but if it didn’t work there would be another one and these surgeries take about three months to recover. The experience of the arm, however, helped me a lot with my latest injury ”.
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