Explained: Marc Marquez’s newest injury - and recovery plan for the next race
The Repsol Honda rider is in desperate need of a rest, and the five-week MotoGP summer break has arrived at an opportune time.
The next race is at Silverstone on August 6, by which time Marquez will hope to have recovered from the problems which forced him to withdraw just hours before the Dutch MotoGP.
"As you know, in Germany, Marc had the injuries he had, which were the fracture of the phalanx of the first finger of his left hand and a large contusion that he had at the level of his right ankle", explained MotoGP medical director Dr. Angel Charte to DAZN.
"At that time it was compatible with going out on the track.
“He considered that after five falls his body was quite crushed in that regard.
“He returned to Madrid and started three days later with rib pain in his right [rib], he went to the hospital and for some [x-rays] that did not initially reveal anything abnormal. I have seen those [x-rays].
“He came to the Netherlands and the rib pain was increasing, increasing. An ultrasound was done at the Quirón health centre and we appreciate that there is a small fracture in the second right rib that makes him very uncomfortable when breathing, making movements and everything else.
"I was talking to him [on Saturday], he went out on the track, he had a slight fall that he told me was of no consequence.
“But [on Sunday], when I saw him, that fracture has increased.
“That is, it has moved a little more, with the risk that this entails because the part of the rib is slightly displaced upwards and can affect the parietal pleura and give rise to respiratory-type processes, pneumothorax.
“I decided that he could not come out [to race]. It was a pure and hard medical decision, not of another nature.
“Now I have told him that [on Monday] he will return to the hospital in Madrid where he is being treated and a well-done CT scan of the rib cage must be done, to see exactly the displacement and what that bill covers and act accordingly.
"Rib fractures are hardly surgical, there is not so much injury as such, but there is a large inflammatory component and above all scraping.”
With eight rounds of the 2023 MotoGP season elapsed, Marquez is yet to complete a grand prix.
His pre-season hopes of a seventh championship are long gone already.
He entered the year injury-free for the first time since early-2020, but immediately suffered a fractured hand on the opening weekend which resulted in three rounds on the sidelines.
Marquez has since picked up further hand and ankle issues, and now the rib injury, to add to his ever-increasing list of physical blows.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
