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MotoGP, Márquez: "The tests are more important, surgery can wait"

"Without Crutchlow and Pedrosa, someone who knows the Honda is needed. If it were dangerous, I wouldn't race and tomorrow I'll aim for the podium"

MotoGP: Márquez: "The tests are more important, surgery can wait"

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Sometimes, looking at what Márquez is capable of doing, the doubt arises that perhaps superheroes exist more than just on the pages of comic books, but also in MotoGP. Marc crashed on the fourth turn of his first flying lap in qualifying and suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder. His manager, Emilio Alzamora, put him on the scooter immediately and took him to the office in the trailer behind the garages. A few minutes later, the Spanish champion was once again on the track, lapping a just over a tenth more than the pole position time.

As I tumbled over the gravel I heard a ‘crack’ in my shoulder and I realised that something had happened - he recounted - I was unlucky. The tyres were still cold and I didn’t expect that crash. Fortunately, my shoulder did not come the whole way out, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to return to the track so quickly.

Anyway, it seems like something incredible…
The doctors checked me out before letting me get back on the bike and everything was fine. Logically, I felt pain. In fact, I was unable to do more than two laps, and my confidence wasn’t the greatest, but I was able to save my qualifiers.”

Did you expect to be able to do it?
I didn’t think that I was that fast. I was only a tenth slower than the pole position time. The important thing is being able to ride well and I am sure that, thanks to the physical therapy, I’ll be ready for the race tomorrow.”

You didn’t think about moving the surgery up?
There are only a few days of testing left and then I’ll be able to do it. The problem was that I never stopped after the Motegi GP when my shoulder was dislocated. We had another two GP rounds in a row. While I was training last week, not on the bike, I had a problem similar to the one today. To sort everything, surgery is needed. You can’t just heal.”

Are the tests so important to clarify straight away the pecking order with Lorenzo?
No, they are important because neither Crutchlow nor Pedrosa will be there and someone who knows the bike well is needed to do the initial comparisons.

Isn’t it dangerous to race in these conditions?
No, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I have been using a sling on my shoulder for the last four or five races, but my muscle structure also gives me stability. If it were dangerous or if I felt too much pain, I wouldn’t race.

So it was simply poor luck?
Every time my shoulder comes out it goes back in more easily, but today Murphy’s law took over: I hit it where I was injured.

Will it limit you for the race?
I don’t think so. Right now I feel good both in the dry and in the wet, so I think I can aim for the podium and maybe even the win. If it rains, I know I’ll have to deal with the Ducatis, otherwise it will be with Viñales and the Suzukis.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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