The Honda rider announced this Saturday that he will undergo surgery for a fourth time to solve the injury to his right arm that he suffered in Jerez, in July 2020, a solution that he hopes “will be the definitive one” and will allow him to go back “to make a normal life as an athlete”.
“It has been a very difficult weekend at the concentration level above all, in the end at the physical level all the last ones have been difficult, although reality did not count and thus avoid the same question every day, it was the way to give myself an opportunity But there comes a point where you see that there is no improvement, that this is not going forward and it is there that through the doctors we have decided to undergo surgery,” he explained this Sunday after finishing 10th in the Mugello race.
A decision that, he assures, was made this Friday, already with the grand prize underway.
“The operation could not be done before because the bone was not completely consolidated, on Friday I received the call (from the doctor) and I was already here, if I had not been here I would not have run this race, but having already done FP1 I did not I felt compelled, but I felt like continuing to help the team and give the four comments I could give thinking about the future”, added the runner, who also explained that “Honda told me that if I didn’t feel like racing, I could take a plane to go home”, a position that he appreciates.
In the end, Marc took part in the race, completing a discreet performance but carrying out his work with extreme professionalism.
“But it has been difficult, very difficult on a mental level above all. I feel a certain liberation, I didn’t see myself competing much longer as I am now, having come up with a solution now opens the door for hopefully the future to be better”.
The Catalan runner assured, when he gave explanations about the decision to undergo surgery, which will leave him out of the races for the rest of the course, that the word withdrawn had gone through his head. But not now.
“I will return for sure, to make happy those who are supporting me, those who are suffering with me, to smile together again,” he said.
“The goal is to ride like before, I don’t know if I’ll be as fast, but I want to enjoy riding the bike again, something I haven’t done in these two years,” he confessed.
“I’ve won races, yes, but all on the left. I’ve won at Misano, on the right, but on water. It’s not the way I want to keep racing.”
Márquez does not see this new intervention as an obligatory medical procedure, but as a definitive solution.
“There is no other option but to have surgery, that’s what the doctors have told me, I can’t go on like this because I’m injuring other parts of my body. At least, I want to be able to lead a normal life, leave physiotherapists and anti-inflammatories behind once and for all” .
The pain has been what has accompanied the rider the most these last two years.
“The most important thing is that they have offered me a solution, they give me peace of mind, because it is not that they tell me to do what I want, but that the doctors have called me and told me to go, that I have to have surgery, that it’s the solution”.
“A winning athlete needs victories and rewards. With pain your character changes and yours pay for it. In the race and when I’m a driver I don’t think, especially when I’m behind another driver, I go by instinct, but you can do that one lap or two, but not a whole career, much less a season”.
“It has been a complicated year and a half, but it has toughened me up a lot and I hope it will be a point to drive the way I want. Then, if we win or not, we’ll see, it doesn’t mean having surgery and winning, for me to have surgery and have fun again It will be a victory”, settled the one from Cervera.
