Márquez suffers an eye injury again and is out indefinitely

Marc Márquez, who already missed last weekend in Portugal, will not be at the Valencia Grand Prix either, which takes place this weekend and will be out indefinitely due to suffering an eye injury, just like in 2011, paralysis of the right superior oblique muscle that prevents him from seeing well enough to get on a motorcycle.

In addition to the weekend appointment, Márquez will miss the tests on the 18th and 19th of this month in Jerez, which are of vital importance to mark the path of the development of the 2022 motorcycle, which is a very sensitive setback for Honda, whose leadership in this regard has been marked by the rider from Cervera since his arrival in MotoGP .

Marc was injured while training on an enduro bike on October 30 and Honda reported that a “slight concussion” prevented him from taking part in the weekend in Portugal, where he was replaced by Stefan Bradl, who will also race in Valencia .

Rumors about the pilot’s real condition soared and speculation began with a relapse of the right arm injury suffered in July 2020, even with a vision problem, as it turned out in the end.

In an official statement, Honda explains that a review of the pilot has detected a new episode of diplopia. According to Dr. Bernat Sánchez Dalmau , an ophthalmologist at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, in charge of carrying out the review, the injury is the same one that he already suffered in 2011.

“The examination carried out on Marc Márquez after the trauma that occurred confirmed that the pilot had diplopia (double vision) and revealed paralysis of the fourth right nerve with involvement of the right superior oblique muscle. It has been decided to carry out a conservative treatment with periodic check-ups to follow the clinical evolution. This fourth right nerve is the one that was already injured in 2011”, explains Sánchez Dalmau.

Marc Márquez’s injury in 2011

Márquez already suffered a similar injury in 2011, when a blow to the head caused the worst moment, according to what he himself said, of his career. That season, in a short period of time, he suffered two falls with a concussion, just like now. After the second hit, the one in Sepang in early October, the pilot began to notice that his right eye had blurred vision, even with double vision.

Marc did not run that race, but he was convinced that he would be in the next one, in Valencia , but things got complicated in such a way that he lost the Moto2 title that year, which went to Bradl , precisely who he is substituting for both last year and this year in his absence.

The rider came to fear for his vision then, and whether it might ultimately prevent him from ever getting back on a bike. For long weeks the pilot did not recover one hundred percent of the vision in his right eye. “Every day in the morning, when I wake up, I do it with my eyes closed, I take a deep breath and open them, to see if I can see well again. And every day the same thing, I see double”, Marc recalled in an anguished interview a few years later, once that ailment had been overcome and he was already in MotoGP .

Márquez underwent surgery on January 16, 2012 for paralysis of the right superior oblique muscle due to involvement of the 4th right cranial nerve of traumatic origin, an injury suffered as a result of the accident in Malaysia just three months earlier.

In total, Márquez needed more than four months and a delicate eye operation to recover and get back on the bike. A very hard memory and still so fresh in his memory that, not long ago, and despite the serious injury suffered last year in Jerez, he assured: “The most serious was in Jerez, but the worst moment of my career was when I lost my vision in 2011, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get back on a motorcycle,” he said.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

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Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, Pol Espargaro

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Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, Pol Espargaro

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing and Marc Márquez, Repsol Honda Team