Marquez to have further arm surgery, rest of ’22 MotoGP season in doubt

Honda announced this at Mugello in a press conference on Saturday following qualifying, with Marquez set to head to America next week for an operation at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.  

Marquez badly broke his right arm at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2020, which ultimately ruled him out of that entire campaign as he underwent three operations on the injury.  

The first proved unsuccessful as he damaged the plate in his arm attempting to return to racing at Jerez just days after the operation, while surgery number two led to an infection which stopped his arm from healing.  

He had a third in the winter of 2020, which stopped him from taking part in the first two races of 2021 – though he would eventually return to action, winning three races that year.  

However, he struggled at most circuits – particularly at clockwise tracks – with power in his right shoulder and to this day still has to limit his running in practice to keep himself in the best physical shape for races.  

This year has been immensely difficult for Marquez, who had to miss two races when he crashed heavily in Indonesia and suffered a concussion – which led to a return of the double vision issues which ruled him out of the last two grands prix of 2021, and kept him sidelined for this year’s Argentina GP. 

On top of this, he has struggled to adapt his riding style to the radically overhauled 2022 Honda – Marquez yet to score a podium this season.  

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The movement in Marquez’s right arm has been severely affected by the successive operations in 2020, which is stopping the natural movement required to ride a MotoGP bike.  

This has only been heightened by the radical change Honda has made to the 2022 bike, which is stopping him from riding in his usual style.  

As a result, Marquez has taken the decision together with Honda to abandon hopes of fighting for the 2022 world championship outright to have another operation on his arm and give himself plenty of time to heal properly.  

It is now likely that he will miss all remaining races in 2022, though he has no timeline for a recovery period.  

Explaining the situation, Honda team boss Alberto Puig says Marquez was informed on Friday that the surgery was now possible and explains what procedure he will go through. 

“As you all remember, 18 months ago Marc had his last surgery on his right humerus and since then on it has been a really long process of rehabilitation, hard work with his medical crew in Madrid and Doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro, Doctor Samuel Antuna, they have been working very hard with him,” Puig began.  

“And of course we have been making quite a lot of progress.  

“Unfortunately, his position on the bike is still not what he really needs to race as he wants to race and to match his expectations on a GP weekend.  

“So, after analysing with the medical doctors, with the group, and consulting with another doctor who is connected to our doctors in Spain, in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, finally yesterday we had the news that a surgery can be done.  

“This surgery can be done right now because the bone is ready.  

“In the past it was not ready, it was soft and it was not recommended but not it is recommended.  

“And finally yesterday we decided this can be done and for that reason Marc will stop after this grand prix and will take a break and have this surgery in the US.  

“It has been a long period for him, a lot of suffering and we want to thank him, his effort during all this time because he suffered a lot.  

“But we all believe it is the correct timing. Just for you to understand, the surgery will consist of the extraction of the osteosynthesis material on the right shoulder.  

“Also together with a humeral osteotomy to improve the external rotation in the arm and stability in the shoulder. This is exactly what they are going to do, and that’s the situation.”  

It is not clear yet who will stand in for Marquez for the remainder of the season, though it will likely be test rider Stefan Bradl – who deputised for the Spaniard back in 2020.