From Mugello, Marc Marquez’s most painful backstory.
Marc Marquez had to settle for fifth place in the Mugello Sprint Race, which even though he had managed to start ahead of everyone after a spellbinding start. However, in the continuation of the scheduled 11 laps, he had to surrender to the pains that still gripped his right foot and especially his right shoulder. With so much painful backstory that the Ducati Catalan wanted to confess at the end of the day. And that have affected him not only on the track, but also in his everyday life.
“The best aspect of the day, for me, was being able to write the notes at the end of the Sprint. This is no joke, because lately my hands were shaking and I couldn’t even write by hand on a sheet of paper anymore. This means that my nerves are gradually returning to normal. So there’s nothing left for me to do but ride to the maximum and continue the work we did today in Ducati,” Marquez explained.
Clearly, at this stage, there is no shortage of difficulties for him. Marquez then explained which phases of the weekend are most problematic for him, “In a single fast lap of qualifying I can ride well. Clearly I feel much more limited in the race distance or even just when I have to push hard for several consecutive laps. I feel much less energy there, I saw it already in FP3 when I tried to do it for 4-5 laps. I really struggled a lot, I hope to be better already in Brno but I can’t know how I will really feel. I know that, in these conditions, when I’m riding I’m not having fun.”
The fifth place in the Sprint still has its own specific weight in the context of the overall standings, where Marquez accuses a delay of 85 points from leader Marco Bezzecchi. The Mugello short race went to Raul Fernandez, who from second on the grid dominated with his Trackhouse Aprilia, finishing more than a second ahead of Jorge Martin and three seconds ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio, third on the podium with the VR46 team Ducati. Fourth was Bezzecchi himself, who consolidated his rainbow leadership with 148 points ahead of Martin (136) and Di Giannantonio (123). Behind Marquez finished Fermin Aldeguer, sixth with the Ducati Gresini, and teammate Pecco Bagnaia, seventh.
The return to Mugello had already been marked by caution since Thursday, when Marquez had made the nature of his physical problems clear in no uncertain terms: “The foot was and remains broken, but to ride a motorcycle it’s not a big problem. If anything, the real problems concern the shoulder, because the damage turned out to be more serious than expected. It will take time to get back to the best, the screw was touching the nerve and this also had an effect on some muscles.” Words that had found confirmation in Friday’s free practice, when the reigning world champion had appeared visibly limp in the pits, as well as very conservative on the track, closing the morning session in fifteenth position more than a second behind leader Di Giannantonio.
Already in Friday afternoon’s pre-qualifying, however, Marquez had given encouraging signs, qualifying for Q2 and closing in sixth position. And in Saturday morning’s official qualifying session, the Catalan had done even better, placing fourth on the grid just a few thousandths of a second behind third-place Jorge Martin, proving how his pure talent can still emerge even in less than optimal physical conditions. A hopeful sign, then, as he waits to see how his condition will evolve ahead of Sunday’s long race and the next events on the calendar.
