RiderTua.com – The fracture in his right arm suffered by Marc Marquez as a result of a horror crash 4 years ago in Jerez, ‘forced’ the newcomer to the Gresini Ducati team to race more carefully. As is known, the 31 year old rider underwent 4 operations and was thinking about retiring from MotoGP after undergoing the fourth operation in 2022.
“As I always say and I’m not lying, that arm with 4 operations requires more care than the others. So we have to take good care of it. We have to ‘spoil’ it. But it’s okay. I can have a normal pre-season. I have “doing good training at home,” explained Marc.
Marc Marquez: I have to ‘spoil’ my arm which has had 4 operations
Even though Marc Marquez has now recovered and is continuing his career, the 2023 season which was marred by Honda’s record for the highest number of crashes has not inspired much confidence. Moving to Ducati, the bike that won the world title and dominated last season, will help reduce the physical blow he usually receives.
Marquez has not been injured since his first crash on a Ducati in the final minutes of pre-season testing in Qatar as he sought the limits of his new machine. Marquez was doing a long distance ‘run’, he fell on the 12th lap, but he still planned to do his 20th ‘run’. “When we plan it like this, we feel good physically. Realistically, right now we are fighting in 5th or 6th position,” said the rider nicknamed Baby Alien.
Marc continued, “It’s very relative because when we arrive here for the grand prix and the tires on the track change, everything changes. But at the moment if this is a race, I think we need to see the right data for 4th, 5th, 6th, in the best case scenario.”
His Ducati brand mate remains the rider to beat when the season-opening race begins on March 8 in Qatar. Marc said there were still 3 or 4 riders who were lucky to be on the same factory bike. He could learn from them and Marc felt he should learn from them how to make the most of it. “There are still several things that are missing. The important thing is that the pre-season evaluation was good. Because we had a solid pre-season, without feeling nervous and appreciating the time needed to get to know the bike,” concluded Alex Marquez’s teammate and older brother.
His rivals in the race for the world title last season Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, who handed over the GP23 to Marc Marquez and are now riding a developed GP24, are expected to continue their positive trend in pole position.
