Marco Bezzecchi
Marco Melandri has revealed how Marc Marquez kept his pre-planned shoulder surgery a ‘secret’ from Ducati before his crash during the French Grand Prix Sprint race that forced him onto the sidelines.
Marc Marquez has now been ruled out of the upcoming Catalan Grand Prix following his crash in the Le Mans Sprint race, which left the reigning world champion with a fractured fifth metatarsal.
Speaking to the press inside the paddock after sustaining the injury, Marquez revealed that he had already scheduled an operation to fix a screw that had moved since the last time he went under the knife after his crash at last year’s Indonesian GP.
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The Spaniard had been suffering from the repercussions of the shoulder injury he sustained that day since the new campaign kicked off at the beginning of March, which became evident in his results.
Despite securing two wins in the Sprint format, his performances in the Grands Prix were of stark contrast. Marquez has yet to claim a podium on Sunday in 2026, indicating that his endurance has suffered massively.
Marco Melandri reveals ‘internal voices’ at Ducati didn’t know about pre-planned surgery
During a recent episode of the Chiacchiere da Box podcast, MotoGP pundit Marco Melandri noted how Ducati personnel were kept in the dark over Marquez’s pre-planned shoulder surgery that was scheduled for after the Catalan GP.
After co-host Davide Valsecchi detailed how he had no idea Marquez was still suffering so much from it, the Italian replied, “Yes, but it seems that even internal voices in his garage didn’t know anything about it, so it’s a strange situation.
“It’s true that riders try to keep things secret from the team, even the negative stuff, to avoid making them think things are going badly and thus keep morale high. But this is really strange.”
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Ahead of the Spanish GP in Jerez, Marquez told his engineers to stop talking about his fitness inside his Ducati box. His physical state has received a lot of attention over the last few months, and the Spaniard had seemingly grown tired of it.
Melandri also gave his verdict on what caused Marquez to suffer such a violent crash at Le Mans. The five-time Grand Prix winner identified the Spaniard’s braking on the outer kerb as his mistake.
He added, “And the crash? In my opinion, you just have to watch the replay from behind. He braked on the outer kerb, was completely off-line on the white line, lost front-end grip, let off the front brake, and regained grip.
“By the time he regained grip at the front, he was already leaning; at the rear, it slipped out and then he had this violent highside slide.”
- READ MORE: Doctor thinks Marc Marquez was experiencing ‘lightning bolts of pain’ before new shoulder surgery
MotoGP paddock now convinced Marc Marquez is past his best
Marquez’s crash at Le Mans marked the third consecutive weekend that the reigning world champion has suffered a high-speed crash, and it has sent alarm bells ringing inside the MotoGP paddock.
The Ducati star had a scary off during FP1 in Austin, and Marquez also crashed out of the Spanish GP while trailing eventual winner Alex Marquez.
His recent trend has MotoGP paddock insiders in agreement that he is now past his best in the sport, despite Marquez’s ability to come back from his previous injury nightmare to win the title last year.
Marquez’s absence from the upcoming Catalan GP has already been noted, leaving him with a mammoth task to defend his title this year.
Following the conclusion of the French Grand Prix, he now sits 71 points behind championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
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