The news has emerged that Marc Marquez is aiming for a return to MotoGP action this weekend at the Andalucian Grand Prix only five days after shattering his right humerus and undergoing major surgery to patch the bone back together.
A fairytale story if he can pull it off, it would be the latest in a series of incredible tales of bravery, determination and maybe stupidity that have become part of MotoGP lore as medical science has allowed racers to bounce back quicker than ever in the past decade.
Jorge Lorenzo, Assen 2013
Back in his earlier years with Yamaha, Jorge Lorenzo’s career was signified by two things: a buttery smooth winning style and monstrous highsides. It was one of those that dumped him onto his collarbone in Thursday practice for the Dutch TT, back when the historic race ran on a Saturday.
Snapping the bone in his left collarbone, he didn’t waste any time on jumping on a flight to Barcelona, where he went under the knife that night, had it patched up, and was able to line up on Saturday’s grid.
As he rode to an heroic fifth place, it looked like the dream ending to the tale. However, it all went wrong only a week later at the Sachsenring, when another highside bent the plate, took him out of the German Grand Prix and left him with a rain phobia that took five years to get over.
Mick Doohan, Brazil 1992
The injuries suffered by Mick Doohan at the 1992 Dutch TT didn’t just cost him that year’s title – they almost cost the Australian his right leg as well. Mangling the limb in a practice fall while 65 points clear in the title, he had to fight against doctors who believed the best course of action was to amputate, so bad was the damage to it.
Instead, Doohan insisted on what he believed was the right course of treatment, ordered his Rothmans Honda team to install a left hand lever for the rear brake, and gritted his teeth. Missing four rounds, he was back in action only 55 days later.
It was too little too late for the 1992 title, as he lost out to Wayne Rainey by only four points despite lining up for the final two races. However, with the leg saved and adaptions made to his riding style, it was only the start of Doohan’s career and he went on to win his first title in 1994 and back it up with four more consecutively.
Marc Marquez, Qatar 2014
Should Marc Marquez ride in Sunday’s Andalucian Grand Prix, it won’t mark his first big return from injury. The Spaniard fell from his flat track training bike before the start of the 2014 season, suffering a clean break of his right fibula.
Undergoing surgery at the hands of Doctor Xavier Mir (who also operated on him on Tuesday), he had the bone plated and raced to full fitness for the opening round of the season in Qatar, less than a month out.
It didn’t slow him down much when the year got underway though, with the reigning rookie champion going on to win not just the Qatar Grand Prix but the opening 10 races of the 18-race season.
Valentino Rossi, Sachsenring 2010
There’s no good place to fall off and seriously hurt yourself, but for Valentino Rossi to do it in front of his adoring crowd at Mugello must have hurt even more. The Italian shattered his lower leg in the practice fall, too, leaving himself with an open fracture of his right tibia – bone through the skin…
It took two operations to put it back together properly and minimise the risk of infection, but it only took 41 days until he was back on track at the German Grand Prix and fighting for the podium.
It was too late to save his title aspirations from Jorge Lorenzo, though, with Rossi’s team-mate going on to take the crown and the year signalling something of a changing of the guard as Rossi is yet to win another title.
Valentino Rossi, Aragon 2017
Rossi’s second miracle comeback shows just how rapidly orthopedic surgery has advanced in recent years, with the Doctor’s second broken leg, suffered while riding enduro with his mates in 2017, taking a different route from 2010.
Again missing one of his home races after breaking his right leg again only 10 days before the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, he looked set to sit out a considerable amount of the late stages of the year.
So imagine the surprise of stand-in racer Michael van der Mark, drafted in from World Superbikes and fitted out for a Movistar Yamaha set of leathers, when the nearly 40-year-old not only passed his medical exam but finished fifth, only 21 days after surgery.
