You are here

MotoGP, Marquez’s eternal return: "I have not set a target but it's important to be back on the bike"

In just over two years, this is the fourth time that Marc has returned after an injury. Austin is one of his lucky tracks and the standings has not extinguished his world title dreams

MotoGP: Marquez’s eternal return: "I have not set a target but it's important to be back on the bike"

Share


To come back or not to come back? That is the question... And if he comes back, when? And what will it be like? Will he take risks or will he settle for a result? These questions are now commonplace when it comes to Marc Marquez, who at the beginning of 2020 began an ordeal whose end is irretrievably postponed. In just over two years, as confirmed this morning with an official release, the Austin GP will be his fourth comeback, a record he would certainly have preferred to do without.

Marquez, throughout his career, has always been a rider who has raced on a tightrope, but at the same time he missed very few races.

In 2008, his debut year in 125, he started one GP late due to an injury in the winter and ended the season two races before the finish with a fractured tibia. Then, in his first year in Moto2, he was forced to remain idle in the last two rounds (thus losing the chance to fight for the title) when, after a crash in Sepang, he suffered from double vision for the first time.

From 2012 onwards, Marquez never missed a single Grand Prix again. Until 2020.

The crash in the race at Jerez, in which Marc fractured his humerus, was the beginning of his personal purgatory. The decision to get back on the bike a few days after the operation only made things worse and Marquez missed the entire season and the first two races of the next one, 15 Grands Prix. He returned at Portimao, was 6th in qualifying and 7th in the race, then 9th at Jerez, before not finishing the next three races. When the Sachsenring arrived, a track where he is undefeated in MotoGP, he returned to victory. In Assen he was then 7th, 8th in the first race at the Red Bull Ring and 15th in the second (after a crash). At Aragon the victory was fought out with Bagnaia to the finish line, then (after a 4th place in Misano) he won in Texas and in the second Misano GP after Pecco crashed.

 

At that point came another stop, because of a return of double vision after a crash while training with an enduro bike. Marc missed the last two GPs of last year but returned in time for the first winter tests at Sepang.

Now we find ourselves in 2022, with Marc starting from the front row in Qatar to finish the race 5th. In Indonesia, after having qualified 15th, he did not race after a bad crash in the warm-up and on the trip back to Europe he discovered that his double vision had worsened, which kept him out of another GP, the one in Argentina.

This time his recovery was much faster and Marquez is already flying to the USA. The reason is clear: Marquez is thinking about the World Championship and does not want to waste time and a golden opportunity represented by one of his favorite circuits.

What does he have to say about all this? “Of course I am very happy to be back, it’s a great feeling to return and especially to do it at one of my favourite tracks. No matter the situation, I really enjoy riding in Texas and have incredible memories there. We have some work to do after missing two races and the whole Argentina weekend so I am not here to set one target at the moment. There’s many things to do and consider, but the important thing is that we are back on the bike this weekend,” were his words.

What Marc doesn't say, the numbers can reveal. At the moment he has 11 points in the standings, therefore 35 less than Aleix Espargarò who leads the championship. The Aprilia rider, however, at this moment cannot yet be considered a concrete contender for the title and the same can be said of Binder and Bastianini, who lie in second and third. With Rins and Quartararo the situation is different and the Honda rider has 25 points less than Alex and 24 from Fabio. If we then consider Bagnaia, the distance is only one point.

With 18 races still to be held, Marquez has many cards to play for the final victory. Austin is one of the best tracks for him and he wouldn't miss it anything in the world.

 

 

Related articles