The major problems Marc Marquez still faces

His worsening injury history

Marquez entered 2023 expecting to be injury-free for the first time in years. The highside at Jerez 2020, and his rushed comeback, were in the rear-view mirror.

Even last summer’s career-threatening arm injury, the fourth of its kind, had been recovered from.

Marquez ended 2022 with a pole position and a podium finish to hint at brighter times ahead, and his pre-season Amazon Prime Video documentary suggested that he targeting the MotoGP title again.

So to have sustained a completely new injury just three laps into the season is a nightmare scenario.

The bone that Marquez broke in his hand as a result of crashing into Miguel Oliveira in Portimao has been described as delicate. He missed Jerez a fortnight ago when doctors told him that the screws they inserted to fix the fracture could not withstand the power of a braking MotoGP bike, and further damage would end his career.

Now aged 30, the injuries just continue totting up even when Marquez appeared to be fully fit again.

And he finds himself in a vicious cycle - claiming that his sub-par bike requires him to overstretch it in certain moments, as a result causing crashes and new injuries.

A hostile welcome

Marquez is divisive and made enemies on the MotoGP grid with this season’s incident at Portimao.

In a cruel twist of fate as he makes his comeback this weekend, Miguel Oliveira will be absent due to a different injury caused by a crash with Fabio Quartararo.

But the manner of Marquez’s crash irked riders and it isn’t the first time.

Aleix Espargaro called for a one-race ban at the time, then this week he added: “If it can happen to anyone? Yes, but how many times has it happened to him and how many to me or Pecco?”

He even said: “Why do we all dare with Takaaki Nakagami and then we ask Fabio and Pecco about Marc and their answers are 'yeah, well..."

MotoGP riders are guaranteed to be asked about the safety aspect of Marquez’s manoeuvres this weekend, and the Honda rider should expect a few hostile answers.

Has the 2023 world championship gone?

Last season Francesco Bagnaia overcame a 91-point deficit to edge Fabio Quartararo at the final round to win the championship - it was an all-time record high comeback in terms of points.

Marquez enters Le Mans 80 points behind the current pace-setter Bagnaia.

The size of the task facing him to re-enter the championship hunt is obviously colossal even if this season there are more points available due to the addition of sprint races.

To see the reigning champion Bagnaia, on a factory Ducati which is clearly the best machine on the 2023 grid, already out in front is an ominous sight for everyone but will be hellacious for Marquez to chase down.

He entered this year hoping to win his seventh premier class title and equal Valentino Rossi’s tally.

But time is suddenly against him in his quest to become MotoGP champion for the first time since 2019.

His Honda future

Perhaps awkwardly for Marquez, Honda won their first grand prix in two years during his absence through Alex Rins.

It was also their first win since 2018 from a rider other than Marquez.

And it arrived just days after Rins complained that he felt “under-used” by Honda in developing a bike which he implied was created for Marquez’s preferences.

Rins’ victory in Texas, one of Marquez’s favourites races, was a sign that Honda may not need to be wholly reliant on their star rider.

Marquez delivered a cutting ultimatum to Honda at the beginning of this year - ‘I’ll win with you, or without you’.

But the dynamic has now changed, with him completing just two laps in the first five rounds.

2024 will be the final year on Marquez’s hugely lucrative contract with Honda.

The RC213V still does not look like a bike capable of regularly challenging Ducati and, with Marquez’s injuries piling up, it is plausible he will never claim another championship.

The problem he faces is that Ducati have regularly and publicly stated that they will not sign Marquez for 2025 because they want to focus on nurturing younger talent. A bluff? A negotiating tactic? Or the truth?

Jorge Lorenzo, his ex-teammate and rival, believes that Ducati will offer him a deal with much lower compensation than his huge Honda contract, and believes Marquez will then have a difficult decision to make - money or the championship.

Even if Marquez prefers to stay with Honda, the team which he is forever associated with, will the Japanese manufacturer be inclined to continue paying the type of money that they currently give him?

At 32 in 2025 and with question marks over his physical capability he will be a very different proposition to the phenom who signed his current mega-deal.