Marquez “needed” to be back on bike, injury “problematic”

Marc Marquez has thrown his leg over a motorcycle for the first time for almost two months since his left shoulder surgery but says he’s still feeling “problematic” pain after riding a mini bike.

Following the post-season tests, Marquez went under the knife to repair his left shoulder having suffered numerous dislocations during the 2018 MotoGP campaign.

Marquez has already confirmed he won’t be at 100% full fitness for the Sepang pre-season test (February 6-8), but in a video released by Repsol Honda he shows his relief at getting back on a bike on Tuesday (January 29), a Honda NSF100 mini racer, at Circuit d’Alcarràs in Lleida close to his Spanish home.

“I needed this, I touched my elbow on the ground,” Marquez said in the video. “Let’s see, good [pushes shoulder], on the brakes above all the lefthander and the one there at the end I lacked stability and strength.

“Then once I was on the inside, if I wanted to open my elbow to touch the ground, something that motivated me, [but] it was bothering me. If I was a little more conservative it didn’t hurt there.”

With physiotherapist Carlos J. Garcia watching on, Marquez says he was eager to get back on a bike to rediscover his feeling, along with identifying where his shoulder is still hurting him, instead of jumping straight back on to his Repsol Honda RCV213V MotoGP machine.

“I had my first contact with the bike,” he said. “Riders in general need to have their minds clear. At least on the trip to Malaysia which is about 14 hours long I will be thinking that I have ridden a bike, got on the brakes, felt the throttle and the clutch.

“We have done a few laps that have helped me to see where things hurt a little more. This week we have to work on it.

“It was pretty much what I expected. The large force under braking, especially the lefthanders, where I have to support my left shoulder was problematic. That is what we have to continue working, have patience in Malaysia and get to March at full fitness.”

He's back on the bike! @MarcMarquez93 takes to the track for the first time since his shoulder op in December. Now it's time for a final push and then the #SepangTest pic.twitter.com/WbIG8H6JFd

— Repsol Honda Team (@HRC_MotoGP) February 1, 2019

Marquez returns to MotoGP action at Sepang for the first official test on February 6 but will be without new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has been ruled out after breaking his left scaphoid in a dirt-track incident while training in Northern Italy. Lorenzo will be replaced by Stefan Bradl for the official test.