Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez’s arms have been reduced to ‘skin and bone’ due to his shoulder injury, according to Neil Hodgson.
Marquez finished seventh in his comeback race at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, having missed the main race at Le Mans and the entire Barcelona weekend.
The reigning world champion was involved in a prolonged battle for fourth with KTM’s Pedro Acosta but he fell away in the second half of the race and eventually lost out to Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura and VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.
What did you make of Marc Marquez’s performance at Mugello?
The reigning champion finished seventh on his return
Marc Marquez needs to regain strength, Neil Hodgson says
Marquez originally injured his shoulder at the Indonesian GP last autumn, which forced him to undergo surgery. However, one of the screws became misaligned, significantly weakening him at the start of the season.
After the problem was discovered, Marquez decided to have another operation. He also had to have a procedure on his foot after a violent highside in the Le Mans Sprint left him with a broken metatarsal.
Marquez can be reasonably satisfied with his performance levels at Mugello given that he’s still regaining fitness. He had qualified an impressive fourth and finished P5 in the Sprint.
Which rider caught your eye with their performance at the Italian Grand Prix?
But Hodgson says it will take time for the Spaniard to rebuild the muscle he has lost due to limitations on his training. His limitations were somewhat exposed over a full race distance through the high-speed direction changes.
“He’s got no nerve issues with that arm, but he’s got no muscle,” Hodgson said on TNT Sports. “He’s lost so much muscle because he’s not been able to train, possibly.
“You can see he’s skin and bone. All this change of direction, it looks graceful on TV, but you have to muscle it through this part of the track.”
Marquez will head to Balaton Park next weekend eighth in the championship. Marco Bezzecchi’s victory leaves him 102 off the pace, damaging his slim title prospects even further.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
