We all know what happened to Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez in the opening round of the 2020 MotoGP championship. He almost crashed, stunned everyone when he passed all the top riders like they were standing still, and then actually crashed which resulted in a broken arm.
HRC got him straight into the operating room where doctors screwed in a titanium plate to fix the broken right humerous bone. Just days after the surgery, Marquez was back on the bike after Dorna’s medical officials cleared him to race (which was very weird to begin with since riders must have all the arm strengths they need, especially to pilot a Honda MotoGP bike).
The pain proved to be too much for the defending world champion and the team decided that he will not continue past qualifying during the second Jerez weekend. The story just got weirder when Alberto Puig announced that Marquez broke the titanium plate when he tried to ‘open a window’ at home. That must’ve been some strong ass window to cause such damage.
How does someone break a titanium plate screwed to their arm like that? Jorge Lorenzo highsided and landed on his titanium plate back in 2013 and that huge force only bent his plate. So many questions popped up about the material used to mend Marquez’s arms to the doctors who placed it there in the first place before the second round in Jerez.
Anyway, Marquez was quickly rolled into the operating room (again) to fix the broken plate and this is when HRC decided to finally bench him until he’s 100% fit to race. According to Puig, “From the first day of the second operation, we have said that the only objective that exists is for him to be 100%. We do not want to rush. Once Marc is in a position to return and compete at the level he knows, then we will think about the next objective.”
A lot of criticisms came after HRC, Dorna, and its medical staff members agreed to let Marquez hop on the wild Honda RC213V just days after the surgery. Some have voiced out that Dorna has a soft spot for the Spaniard (allegedly) and was willing to assist in his efforts to win more races and championships (also allegedly). So much so that they were willing to risk his physical wellbeing to do so.
This particular comment was floating around, especially when other riders have been deemed unfit to race with less serious injuries in the past. Nevertheless, the spirit of Marc Marquez to march ahead was commendable but not at the risk of more serious injuries if he does so.
A message to the fans from @marcmarquez93! 🎙️
Get well soon champ! 👊#AustrianGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/ravQaXDbal
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 23, 2020
HRC should’ve taken note of this earlier and maybe, just maybe, Marquez could’ve defended his title this season. For now, it seems that he’ll be out of action for the next two to three months. In other words, we will have a new MotoGP world champion in 2020. Get well soon, Champ.