Spanish GP | Márquez: “If I went back to Jerez, I would put my sports career at risk”

Márquez has gone down to Jerez to explain to everyone why he does not run, does not reappear, in one of the great prizes that makes him most excited, of course, Jerez. Márquez always shows his face and offers explanations. Those of today have been conclusive: “If I forced myself and ran here again this weekend, if I fell and all the surgery on my right thumb broke, I would collapse, I would put my sports career at risk. And that, the truth, at this point in my career, I could not afford it ”.

final sentence

Márquez explained that the medical team treating him in Madrid, led by the Dr. Ignacio Roger de Ona, when analyzing the TAC, last Tuesday, of his right thumb recommended that he not even think of running in Jerez. “I spoke with the doctors from the Mayo Clinic in the US and also, also, with those who sometimes treat me at the Red Bull medical center in Austria and, yes, they all said that it was crazy to reappear in Jerez.”

And then Márquez explained that “we are talking about the most important finger in a pilot, since the right thumb is the one that exerts the most force in everything, holding on to the handlebars, speeding up the braking, the gas… I could not allow myself that, in a silly fall or in the repetition of so many efforts in so many braking throughout the weekend, it broke, fractured again and the whole surgery fell apart. If that happened, it could be remedied again, but the doctors said that then it would be dragging consequences on that hand throughout my career and, in that sense, I already have enough with my shoulder, humerus, and arm. right”.

There was talk, of course, of the fall of Portimao, of the sanction, of the crashes that occur in the race. And a lot. “Of the penalty that I carry, which is a mess, I don’t feel like talking. It’s not what worries me right now. There is no worse penalty for a driver than being injured, than being off the track because you have to recover from an accident. It is true that it is the best way to learn, based on blows, but what hurts me the most is having missed so many races and not even knowing when I will race again. Nobody wants to create dangerous situations and then hurt you.”

Márquez said that he believed (“naive me”) that he could be cured in four weeks “when the doctors told me that the doctors say that it is impossible to do it before six and eight weeks and, to be honest, I could not put my career at risk ”.

Regarding the touches in the race, Márquez continued to be as sincere and realistic as ever. “Touching is something that is part of our sport. The touches are something that has happened, happens and will continue to happen. Hopefully! Let it happen as little as possible, yes, but the great pilots in history have experienced situations like this. We are all going to the limit, young and old. Nobody wants to fall and even less hurt themselves or cause it. What you have to do is learn from mistakes and, above all, analyze them from all points of view, including possible sanctions, yes”.

Since 2020, Márquez has missed at least half of the races due to various injuries, such as two diplopia (double vision), four operations on the right humerus and, now, this fracture in the right thumb. He was asked that he keeps me alive, motivated. “True, I don’t stop chaining injuries of all kinds and duration. How do I maintain motivation? For me it is more important to maintain willpower. I don’t shoot for motivation, I shoot for willpower, routine, sacrifice, being persistent in rehabilitation and training. It is the willpower that keeps the passion, the motivation alive”.

hard day

And he continued to be honest, but whole, strong, solvent, convincing the audience that filled the Repsol Hona team tent. “The truth is that I would prefer to have another kind of life. I am not, no, very excited to get up at seven in the morning, put myself in the hyperbaric chamber for two hours, then the machines to continue recovering the humerus, then cardio… but it is my job and, if I want to compete again, I must do it. My passion asks me for that”.

It goes without saying that Márquez not only misses the Jerez GP, but also the test, vital for the development of the Honda RC213V, recently winner of the Argentine GP, at the hands of Àlex Rins, also from Catalonia. “It hurts too, yes, but there are Joan Mir and Àlex himself. We are a team and together we are going to get Honda out of the difficult situation it is going through”.