Marc Marquez prepares to ride an RC213V-S Honda track bike as he steps up his training at the Algarve Circuit in Portugal, following a long injury lay-off.
Doha: Six-times world champion Marc Marquez will not race in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix as he continues to recover from an arm injury sustained last season, his team Repsol Honda said yesterday.
Marquez fractured his humerus in the 2020 season-opening Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez last July, after the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted the original calendar, and did not race again all year.
The 28-year-old Spaniard has since undergone three surgeries, with Honda saying the doctors advised against hastening his return to the track and will conduct another medical check on April 12.
“After the last review with the medical team, the doctors have advised me that the most prudent thing was not to take part in the Qatar Grand Prix and to continue with the recovery plan that we have followed in recent weeks,” Marquez said.
“I would have loved to be able to participate in the opening race of the world championship, but we will have to continue working to be able to recover the optimal conditions that allow us to return to competition.”
MotoGP.com said that in the review carried out on the Spanish rider by the medical team led by Doctors Samuel Antuña and Ignacio Roger de Oña, and made up of Doctors De Miguel, Ibarzabal and García Villanueva, 15 weeks after surgery for an infected pseudoarthrosis of the right humerus, a good clinical response has been found after the intensification of his training.
However, considering the time period and the current state of the bone consolidation process, doctors consider it prudent and necessary not to accelerate Marquez’s return to the track after such an inactive time, and to avoid putting the humerus at risk in intense competition.
Marquez, who handed over the MotoGP crown last season to his compatriot Joan Mir, has practically ruled himself out of the title fight this year, despite Mir's comments that he is always a favourite.
Qatar, which will host the opening two races of the 2021 MotoGP season, has offered the Covid-19 vaccine to the sport's entire paddock.
