Marc Marquez is very familiar with the post-injury rehabilitation process. In the past two-and-a-half MotoGP seasons, Marquez has missed half of the races due to on/off-track incidents and/or resulting surgeries. It's practically impossible to deter the six-time MotoGP champion, though.
His latest road to recovery may be his most daunting. After traveling to the United States for corrective surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Marquez has taken things slowly, only shedding his arm sling after seven weeks. To rebuild strength in his right arm, number 93 started swimming just last week, nine weeks removed from the procedure. Now, 10 weeks following the potentially career-saving operation, Marquez is getting back into the gym.
While the Spanish rider is starting out with light weights, resistance training, and cardio, he’s already anxious to get back on a motorcycle.
"It’s true at the end of August I have another doctor’s check. If everything goes well, then I can increase the rehabilitation,” revealed Marquez.
However, the Repsol Honda man will have to work his way up to his RC213V, piloting a CBR600RR and the RC213V-S production superbike before he can handle his race steed again. Marquez went through the same process twice before, when he originally broke his right humerus in 2020 and recovered from another bout with diplopia (double vision) at the beginning of the 2022 season.
Despite the long road ahead, the eight-time World Champion remains focused on helping Honda develop the RC213V for the 2023 season. Without number 93 in the pit box, the Repsol Honda and LCR Honda MotoGP teams have struggled to achieve consistent results. During his absence, the manufacturer failed to finish in the points for the first time in 40 years. Marquez also knows that he will need to provide feedback for Honda engineers to further develop the prototype.
"Before I ride next year’s bike, I need to do at least one race,” Marquez added.
Traditionally, teams have debuted their new bikes at the first post-season test in Valencia, Spain. However, schedule changes for 2022 mean that the first, and only, pre-season tests will occur in Malaysia in February, 2023. That gives Honda extra time to get its ducks in a row, but if Marquez plans to race before season’s end, he’ll need to continue amping up his training regimen.
