Marc Marquez Back On An MX Bike - Recovery Progressing Well

By David Emmett | Thu, 13/01/2022 - 19:48

There has been a huge step forward in Marc Marquez' recovery from diplopia, the double vision he suffered as a result of a crash riding enduro. After consulting with the doctor treating his eye condition, the Repsol Honda rider was given the go ahead to ride a motorcycle again. Using the lessons of his previous bout of double vision - after the monster crash in practice in Sepang 2011 - Marquez was cautious in his choice of venue, deciding to ride a motocross bike at his local track in Lleida, Spain. In 2012, he had first ridden a bike at Alcarras, at a track shared with BSB teams. News of his ride quickly leaked, something which was less of a concern at the MX track in Lleida.

In the video issued by with the press release by Honda, Marquez can be seen to be riding with a great deal of freedom, and does not appear to be holding back. The press release describes him as being "more than optimistic" about his return to two wheels, with the next step for the Spaniard to try riding a bike on an asphalt circuit. There was no mention of when that might happen.

A further positive sign is that Marquez will now appear in the Honda press conference to be held on Friday morning, where HRC will announce their plans for the coming season across several championships. 

There is no news on whether Marquez will be fit in time for the Sepang test, but at least he is on course to race during the 2022 season. His real level of fitness and ability will only be apparent once he starts riding a MotoGP bike again.

The press release from the Repsol Honda team appears below:

Marc Marquez back on a motorcycle as his recovery advances

Marc Marquez underwent a medical examination with Dr. Sánchez Dalmau last Monday to analyse the situation of his diplopia. The ophthalmologist confirmed a clear improvement in the vision of the eight-time World Champion.

With this progress, the Repsol Honda Team rider received authorization to ride a motorcycle and motocross, the most demanding discipline possible in the world of two wheels, was chosen by Marquez and his team. After a three-month absence, the Spanish rider returned to riding at the Ponts Circuit (Lleida). After several runs his sensations and feelings on the bike were more than optimistic.

The next step for Marquez will be to ride on a paved racetrack.

MotoGP
Honda
Marc Marquez
Honda Racing

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Comments

D999: 1: M.Marquez 2: Bagnaia 3: Quartararo 4: Miller 5: Mir 6: Fernandez

Motoshrink: 1. M.Marquez 2. Bagnaia 3. Quartararo 4. Mir 5. Martin 6. Bezzecchi

Cloverleaf "#1 plate": 1. Bagnaia 2. Martin 3. Quartararo 4. Mir  5. B.Binder 6. Bezzechi

I've got both of you Illmores, Miller won't and Marc will. Enjoy my tail section!

Correct. Apparently that's where he wanted to ride "first"  because there is no better judge than testing the horse that bucked him off in the first place and also because of the physical endurance that only motocross provides.  Makes total sense,  your eyes have to be so focussed on the track that changes so if that fatigue hasn't upset it then it's obviously healing well.. So that's the low speed focussing done, now for the high speed focussing on a track which the docs want to test out.. 

This is music to my ears!!! Yes yes yes!!

Fantastic news for Marc, the championship, Honda and us.  Hope there's time for some of his input to be used from the next test.

A lot has to go right for his arm, shoulder and eye to make it through 21 races. I'm betting on the under. Nothing against MM, in that I don't wish him any specific harm, but there are too many failure points in his body over that many months. He can't 'crash to find the limit' any more or he'll risk the displopia returning or the shoulder coming apart. Maybe with the new bike he won't need to? I will be interested to see how this goes since I bet against him. Most don't do well when employing that strategy. Can't wait to find out.

Brian: 1. Bagnaia 2. Quartararo 3. Mir 4. Martin 5. Miller 6. Gardner

Winter greetings Brian! I hear you w concerns about his fitness and it impacting him. You make sense! And, I like Marc's odds against your riders...even right there with Bagnaia.

And,...his arm has had healing time. It WAS mending finally. Poor guy with the infection, TOUGH time. It was clearly impacting his riding on turns that direction. But, it was noticeably improving while racing last year.

Then there is the change coming from the new bike on riding style. The old Braking Buckaroo forced over riding in the braking zone to a degree that it was described as not safe. This revolutionized bike? For sure won't. This is a BIG factor.

Re the new bike Pol, Taka and Alex all asked for the same thing - much more rear grip. And all said they got it. Pol is next thinking about outright speed on straights to beat Ducs, something he may not need to worry about given the drag race performance it has had. But it DOES need to be a bit easier to ride physically, and more planted/improved feel from turn in through apex. 

It has only been ridden at Misano and Jerez, fairly twisty. And in the same Fall conditions. More to see. At Qatar we will know a ton. Expectations are high, eh? 

It looks like riding the local motocross track is "just a quick usual family outing" for Marc. He got the ok, and the kid ran out the door to there. Now, a systematic plan. He says wants to be on a big track on his own to do laps to exhaustion and see if it gets worse when he is tired. Simple as that. 

I think He is back. Going with the over. ESPECIALLY looking fwd to the battles at the pointy end of races with Bagnaia, hopefully also with two more riders in the mix.

The long hard winter continues unabated here in FL - a chilly 63 degrees today BRRR.

I am predisposed against when it comes to H***a and MM so I'm going totally on emotion as regards them. I have no idea about the bike but my hunch is that it will be a straight line beast that loves v-shaped lines. No matter how 'friendly' a bike like that is it is fastest when ridden at an unsafe level. If it's not unsafe, GO FASTER until it is. Can MM do this? Can the bike? Or will the bike be a tenth slow because of that turn toward friendliness, if indeed there is one? These are the questions that keep an old man awake after the 3rd trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. We shall all see in glorious hi-def. What a time to be alive and watching Motogp. Cheers!

Not because a confident and fully fit Marc won't beat the field most Sundays this year--he will. But.

New and improved bikes sometimes do not turn out to be improved--just new. But that is true for all manufacturers. More significantly, it is possible that Marc will not be testing the limit to the same degree he has done in the past (as Brian implied). He has accumulated a bunch of body parts that won't escape a crash unscathed again. And that will be in the back of his mind always.

Can't way for real races to supplant speculation!

Gotcha. And, very first go on the new bike cobweb shakeout for the racers it was just as fast or a wee faster than the 2021. And had what they said they wanted. Isn't that a good sign?!

St. Stephen: 1. Quartararo, 2. Bagnaia, 3. Mir, 4. Martin, 5. Dovisioso, 6. Fernandez

I LOVE that you tipped Dovi. Given how overtly despondent Quarty was and indications that he is sincerely looking elsewhere given the bike "nearly identical to last year" and "same power" motor Blue brought to the post season test, aren't Yamaha expectations trending bearish? Huge Quartararo fan here too. But Yamaha lately has been eating their own poo. 

Bagnaia and Marc up front. Heck, Martin and Bastiannini, plus Miller - they may be drafting past the first inline four guys here. 

V4 time, and the young guns at Ducati are both showing promise AND in full boil chase. Martin looks GORGEOUS. Gigi is goddamn brilliant. The bike turns!! Rips! And nurses tires. It is hard to overstate. Unless, phenom Marc and all new HRC missile potential catches ablaze early season. And thassalotta tinder laying there.

DAMN this is exciting!! Feel it?!

Someone here has to stick up for Dovi!

Best motorcycle racer on planet Earth for several years, after you-know-who. Does not get the credit he deserves.

Anyway, if he gets a podium this year you'll never hear the end of it from me. And if he crashes and burns, well, I might forget this post...