Marco Bezzecchi
Nobody on the current MotoGP grid has been through more turmoil than reigning champion Marc Marquez.
The perfect example exists right now. He’s currently battling to make pre-season testing after suffering a significant collarbone injury at the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix. Ducati need him back.
The only reason why Marquez has any chance of making it to Sepang is his very own fierce and competitive nature.
In some ways, it has served him well over the years, and in others, it has hurt him. Physically, particularly when he was at Honda, he put himself through too much.
Prove me wrong: Marc Marquez would not win the MotoGP championship on Honda’s bike today
Marquez was ‘unbeatable’ in 2019, and didn’t finish any single race lower than second. He had incredible consistency.
Andrea Dovizioso realised the ‘only way’ to beat Marquez was to toy with him a little bit. At times, it worked, but over sustained periods, he couldn’t come out on top.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez has now ‘changed’ his view on ‘dangerous’ clash with Valentino Rossi in 2018
Jorge Lorenzo thinks Marc Marquez made a ‘very bad’ decision to rush back to MotoGP in 2020
Marquez is finding his shoulder recovery ‘difficult’, but he has experienced so much now that almost nothing is new to him.
The seven-time champion is aware of the importance of being as close to 100% fit before returning to defend his title. Otherwise, he risks putting himself in harm’s way.
Speaking about the 2020 Jerez crash that started it all, ex-rival Jorge Lorenzo thinks that Marquez made a ‘very bad’ decision in the aftermath of the incident.
“For Marc, this was a very bad period and a very bad decision, which maybe came from the history of motorcycle racing.
“Coming back to the circuit as soon as possible, the doctors giving permission to race, it has been like this since the 1990s. It’s very tricky. If you’re a runner and you break a leg, it’s impossible to run. But in motorcycling, if the surgeons put in a plate, you can be quite competitive.
“You can get on the bike, then you will be faster or slower, but you can do it, you can race. The problem is that if you crash again, it’s more dangerous.”
READ MORE: Jorge Lorenzo warns Marc Marquez that ‘even the greatest’ riders decline eventually
When did Marc Marquez try to come back from his 2020 Jerez crash?
Marquez’s Jerez crash would eventually rule him out for the entire 2020 season, but not after he tried making a comeback within just one week of his accident.
Yes, the Spaniard tried to return at the Andalusian Grand Prix, less than seven days after the frightening highside that left him with a fractured right humerus bone – a vital part of the body.
Maybe he didn’t realise it at the time, but returning to action just four days after surgery on his arm was silly.
Pulling out of the following race was the wise option, and even then, it still took him a very long time to return to his former self.
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