The MotoGP paddock has reacted with unanimous sympathy to the latest news that Marc Marquez will potentially sit out the remainder of the 2020 MotoGP season, with the eight-time and reigning world champion now switching his focus to recovering from injury rather than attempting a comeback in Misano in two weeks’ time.
Chief among those expressing sympathy with the Repsol Honda rider tonight as the news broke was the freshly-injured Johann Zarco, with the Avintia Ducati rider set to line up tomorrow with a broken and recently-pinned bone for the first time in his career.
And, after breaking his wrist last weekend at the Red Bull Ring and having a screw installed on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s race, Zarco says it has given him a greater understanding of Marquez’s plight.
“It must be pretty difficult for him to live in this situation since Jerez,” Zarco said. “He came back and tried and from that moment he knew it would be difficult. I understand even more now what it must be like because I’ve had my first operation.
“It was a mini one compared to his, but I still wanted to go onto the bike again and to have some feeling, even if it wasn’t the best chance to let the bone recover. It’s sad news, and I think it must be difficult to carry this energy.
“He has to feel good when he comes back, but he is still young and he will come back still strong. To know that the recovery is longer than expected takes courage – be strong Marc, because it’s not an easy moment to live in.”
Zarco’s fellow front-row qualifier Pol Espargaro was also quick to lend his support to his 2021 team-mate, reiterating what he said on Friday about how it’s all but impossible for the rest of the field to judge themselves in the absence of the dominant champion.
“He is currently the best rider on the grid and to be here without him we can’t see the performance of our bikes at the best level, how it would be against him or how fast he would be today,” Espargaro said of Marquez. “When we hear something like that, we wish him the fastest of recoveries and hope to see him riding again very soon.”
And while they might not normally be on the best of terms with each other, one person who can fully sympathise with Marquez is Valentino Rossi. Himself the victim of title aspiration-ending injuries in 2010, Rossi offered his bitter rival some experience on how to deal with the situation.
“My story in 2010 was that I won the first race in Qatar and could fight for the championship with Jorge [Lorenzo],” Rossi recalled. “After the first race I had a very bad injury to my shoulder while training motocross, and I suffered a lot to ride the bike. The situation was already critical.
“In that critical situation I arrived in Mugello and I broke my leg. It was very bad because it was a very bad fracture and from that moment I only thought about my recovery. I was already suffering from my shoulder and I knew from then that it was over.
“I took it calmly, tried to escape to my house from the hospital as soon as possible and relaxed on my sofa. I followed MotoGP races and the World Cup, and stayed quiet.”
It remains to be seen who will officially replace Marquez for the two to three months of further recovery time that he’s set to undergo, but it looks likely that HRC test rider Stefan Bradl will continue to fill in.
Not yet sure himself about what Honda will decide, Bradl admitted after the news came out that he’s likely to get the nod to continue deputising for the world champion – a role he also filled last year for Lorenzo during a large part of the season.
“I’ve just read that Marc is focusing on his recovery which is absolutely understandable,” Bradl said. “In Honda we need him back because he is the number one rider, but in the meantime I will do what HRC is requesting.
“I’ll start by racing tomorrow and then move on to the Misano test, and it is going to be a very important test. You’ll have to ask the management who will be in the Misano race, although I assume it’ll be a number six on the bike even if officially it’s not decided.”
Having Bradl on the bike will be an unexpected boon to Honda, as it continues to work hard to improve the RC213V for 2021. Honda, like all manufacturers, is severely restricted on testing and wildcard appearances for Bradl due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this gives them a chance to work during race weekends on trialling new parts.
That is desperately needed, too, as the absence of Marquez has shown up the shortfalls of the current ultra-aggressive bike. Honda’s top championship contender is currently satellite rider Taka Nakagami in sixth, while it lies ahead of only Aprilia in the constructors’ championship and dead last in the teams’ title race.
