It’s 8:16 a.m. in the morning. Mugellothe precious Tuscany Italian. Social networks have been burning for hours wishing the best of luck to Marc Márquez Alentá in the fourth operation on his arm, humerus and right shoulder to which he will undergo, next Thursday, in the mayo clinicof Rochesterin Minnesota (United States)at the hands of the prestigious surgeon Joaquin Sanchez Toledo.
All the riders in the world, everyone except Valentino Rossi, from Jorge LorenzoAleix Espargaró, Álvaro Bautista, Toni Bou to the Turkish Toprak RazgatliogluWorld Superbike Champion in 2021, wish you “strength, courage and a lot of encouragement” to the champion from Cervera (Lleida), who crosses the Mugello paddock on his Honda scooter in search of his box to review with his Engineer Santi Hernandez the latest data on your RC213V before getting on it and practicing in the ‘warm-up’ (rehearsal before the race), when everyone thinks he shouldn’t be running and taking risks before such a tremendous operation.
professional to the end
“I am doing a job that Honda has asked me to do. I am testing parts and things that Honda has asked me to do and, before traveling to the US and undergoing surgery, I want and must finish my work”, says Márquez, who has stopped his motorbike in front of the tent. Dorna Sports to serve me three minutes. I ask him if he is calm and he says “yes”. Yes why. “For a simple reason, because the problem would have occurred if Dr. Sánchez Toledo, in his call at 12:00 noon on Friday, had told me that the rotation of the right humerus was slight or medium and he would have given me the decision. to operate or not, to continue like this, with this torture. It was not so. Sánchez Toledo gave me no time to decide: take the plane, come now! I don’t understand how you’re running, the rotation is much higher than we thought. Come! And that calmed me down. I didn’t hesitate for even a second. I must do it, there is no other”. He twisted (slightly) the throttle grip of his scooter and flew into his box.
And, indeed, as El Periódico has learned, the surgical intervention to which the Honda leader will undergo next week (he will travel on Tuesday and will be operated on Thursday) is very delicate, very, very delicate and will last, at the very least. , over eight hours. The rotation of his humerus, which rumors indicated was slightly higher than 10%, is, according to information handled by El Periódico, a newspaper belonging to the Prensa Ibérica group as well as this medium, of 33%, a real outrage for a pilot who risks what Marc Márquez risks, who rubs shoulders with the best in all circuits and who, less than a month ago, finished fourth in Jerez behind ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia). True, more than 12 seconds behind, but fourth, ahead of 18 other teammates.
“The hard part would have been if the doctor had left the decision in my hands, but there was no option: come on, we have to operate now! And I didn’t hesitate”
“The doctor Sanchez Toledo He showed me his surprise, I wouldn’t say his admiration, for running in these conditions,” says Márquez, who assured El Periódico that the doctor Samuel Antuna He told him “if it were my arm, Sánchez Toledo would operate on me, just so you know”. “Sánchez Toledo told me on Friday that there was no choice but to operate to try to fully recover the humerus and shoulder, among other reasons because, not having as much strength in his right arm, he was already punishing, mistreating and damaging the left. due to overexertion. He confirmed to me that the rotation of the humerus is too great for the muscles, which are fine and strengthened thanks to the hard work I have been doing, and my body to support it and, therefore, a solution must be sought in the operating room” .
Márquez, who had already recognized the bético Marc Bartra, As El Periódico has learned, that his humerus rotated when he visited him at the Jerez GP, he acknowledged at Saturday’s press conference in Mugello that Sánchez Toledo told him that “even for the daily life, the humerus was not well recovered, imagine running at 350 km/h!, he told me”. The eight-time world champion knows that a long and hard intervention awaits him, in which Sánchez Toledo will have, next to the operating table, a huge 3D screen with the real representation of his healthy left humerus and the injured right.
long recovery
They say that the operation, in which a large team of specialists will intervene, will require a lot of care. There is, of course, the danger of infection and, in this sense, Márquez himself spoke on Saturday that he hopes that the danger, the fear, the uncertainty “will be lower than in the third surgical intervention that Dr. Samuel Antuña performed on him when he saved my bone from the infection I was suffering from”.
It is evident, as El Periódico has learned, that an operation of eight or more hours must be followed by a recovery, a rehabilitation, prolonged, long, never less than five or six months and, therefore, ending as this World Cup-2022 ends in Cheste (Valencia), the first week of next November, it is more than certain that MM93 will not set foot on a circuit again this season. The opposite would be a true miracle. Sorry, one more miracle from the ‘Marc Márquez factory’.
