Jorge Martin shares why he will not compare his injury nightmare to Marc Marquez’s ‘great comeback’

Add as preferred source on Google

Jorge Martin endured an injury-plagued title defence in 2025, as Marc Marquez won his first MotoGP championship since he suffered a career-threatening injury in 2020.

Fortunes during the 2025 MotoGP season were very contrasting for the two Spaniards, who had already featured in a sliding doors moment. Ducati rejected Martin to sign Marquez for their 2025 factory rider line-up, which tempted the former to leave Pramac and join Aprilia.

Aprilia could only call on Martin to feature at eight of the 22 rounds this year, though. Injury after injury sidelined the Madrid native, and ensured his title defence only yielded 34 points while Marquez won his seventh title to date with five rounds spare after penning 545 points.

Martin feels Marquez’s first MotoGP title with Ducati represents a good example of a “great comeback” from injury, having not seen his compatriot conquer the world since he won the 2019 title for Honda. Marquez considered retiring after breaking his right humerus in 2020.

Jorge Martin will not compare his injury nightmare to Marc Marquez’s as they are ‘completely different’

Marquez broke his right humerus after flying through the gravel at Jerez following a violent highside in the 2020 season-opening Spanish Grand Prix. He underwent four operations to fix his arm, including having the bone rotated over 30 degrees back to its original position.

READ MORE: The worst MotoGP title defences in history, as Jorge Martin sets a new record

But Martin does not want to compare his nightmare with injuries in 2025 to Marquez’s road back to the top, given they are “completely” different people. Martin sustained a wide array of injuries this term, including a hemopneumothorax and broken hands, ribs and collarbone.

Martin told the official MotoGP website: “For sure, it’s a good example of a great comeback. I don’t want to compare myself to Marc. He’s a completely different person, and a different rider. But I know I can do it, also.”

Jorge Martin ‘couldn’t wait’ to return to the #89 plate after running #1 as the 2024 champion

Martin fractured his right hand and left foot on day one of the 2025 Sepang pre-season test, and then also fractured his left hand while training on a Supermoto. Aprilia then saw Martin break 11 ribs and suffer a hemopneumothorax on his eventual debut for the team in Qatar.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend

Those issues sidelined Martin for three and seven rounds, before he finally enjoyed a run of appearances on the RS-GP25. But Martin crashed into Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi on the first lap of the Sprint at Motegi and suffered a displaced fracture of the right collarbone.

The 27-year-old would only return to see out his failed 2024 title defence for the final round of 2025 in Valencia, where Marquez was absent after requiring surgery for a shoulder injury of his own. Marquez missed the final four rounds after Bezzecchi took him out in Indonesia.

Martin did not consider retiring from MotoGP due to his injuries in 2025, but he did start to question if he would ever race at the same levels he achieved before. And now that 2025 is over, Martin looks forward to getting his career back on track by returning to the #89 plate.

Martin told GPOne: “[The #89 plate] is the number I used for the last four years in MotoGP. And the truth is, I couldn’t wait to put it back on.

“I felt that even though I deserved that #1, I deserved it very much, I didn’t feel represented by how the season went. So, let’s go back with the grit of the #89. First thing, bam, the #89 doesn’t make mistakes.”