Marc Márquez suffered an accident on October 30 while doing off-road training. The eight-time world champion fell and hit his head on the ground, and a short time later the Spanish rider discovered that he had vision problems.
Márquez quickly got in touch with his doctor, who recommended that he temporarily stay away from two wheels until his diplopia had a conclusive solution.
Motocross training often draws criticism, and the debate has intensified again after Moto2 champion Remy Gardner had to undergo surgery this week following a motocross injury.
“Training with a dirt bike is dangerous. But it is also dangerous when you ride a Superbike on certain tracks that are not entirely safe. In the end you have to train in some way. When you are sitting on the couch, there is no risk and you can go to any race. But then you can’t be the best in the world,” Marc reasoned.
“I only rode for 20 minutes, I said I would do two more laps and then stop. I fell in the corner and hit my head, but I was able to get up afterwards and straighten the bike. I drove home and took a shower. After three hours I felt that my vision was strange”, he reviews.
“I called my doctor. He told me to stay calm and wait a week. Within a week we realized there was a problem and we made it official.”
After weeks of uncertainty, the #93 announced that his diplopia did not require surgery and days later he could be seen riding an RC213V-S at the Portimao circuit, a commercial version of his MotoGP.
For a long time it was unclear whether the strategy of getting back on the bike was the right thing to do for the Cervera rider’s health, as Marquez made no perceptible progress for weeks.
“I tried to disconnect from the world and live a normal life. Especially in the first weeks after the injury, I wanted to disconnect from everything else. It’s obviously very difficult,” he explains.
“I didn’t have a normal life for the first few months. I sat on the couch and tried to do weights. But it wasn’t possible. I wouldn’t wish an injury like that on any other driver.”
The official Honda rider followed the advice of his doctors and tested his vision on the Algarve World Cup circuit, where he rode for 65 laps to study his conditions on the bike.
“The shoulder and the arm are in better shape, but we have to figure out how to deal with that during the season so that we don’t have the same problems as last season,” explained the Cervera driver.
Photo by: Honda Racing
Photo by: Honda Racing
Photo by: Honda Racing
Photo by: Honda Racing
Photo by: Honda Racing
