MotoGP Portugal: Marc Marquez, the return of the injured warrior

The many moments making up Marquez’s weekend form a collage, starting on Thursday when he is firmly under the world’s spotlight, people impatient to see and hear from number #93. But the man who speaks to journalists is a  "worried” and “timid” rider. Adjectives we never thought we’d use in reference to the eight-time champion. He has other labels: crazy, risk-taker, out of the box, demanding, aggressive, even unpleasant for some. And yet Marc returned with his hands up, almost as if he wants to repel the pressure being put on him: "I’m not 100%, don’t expect too much” and also: “I’ll need mental as well as physical rehabilitation, and that will take longer”.

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His first time aboard the RC213V

The second key moment is an image of his return to track after a 255-day absence. Marc puts on his helmet and gloves while crew chief Santi Hernandez slaps him on the arm as if to say: "Welcome back eh!". He returns the smile, the tension lifted for a second, but it comes flooding back when he sees the RC213V is ready. Visor down, it's time to get back in the saddle and chase those butterflies in his stomach away.

 The first real smile

The third moment actually incorporates various moments, or rather his first, second, third and fourth laps. His guys wait for him in the garage but he doesn’t come in and continues to lap, increasingly fast. On lap one he’s timid, barely getting his knee down, but who is this rider? He’s unrecognisable. He had warned us he’d be making a cautious start. But no one believed him. And yet his first two laps are just that. But then he really twists the throttle and his return steps up a gear.

The fourth moment is one of the most symbolic of his return, or rather, when the Spaniard comes into the garage at the end of the session. He’s finished third. It’s only the beginning, but when he takes his helmet off a wide smile spreads across his face. His usual smile. The smile of a man who’s realised that Magic Marquez is still a rider, can still be a rider. No more butterflies or doubts. It’s time to get serious.

 The return, the real win

From Barry Sheene to Mick Doohan, Marc Marquez isn’t the first to undertake such a challenging feat. In 1982, British rider Sheene crashed in practice at Silverstone, breaking both his legs when he collided with Patrick Igoa’s bike, which had crashed a moment earlier. It took 27 screws to fix them and seven months later, despite the doctors having advised him to retire from racing, he was back, even reaching the podium in the 1984 South African GP.

But the rider who is most compared to Marquez is Australian Mick Doohan. He didn’t have an easy time of it as a rider and his injuries include one that marked his career more than any other. In 1992 he crashed at Assen and risked losing a leg. He was operated on by Doctor Costa and, two months later, he was back riding. A true miracle. Then, among the modern era of riders, how can we forget Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. All great riders who have been hurt to a greater or lesser extent but who all returned in record time. We can’t talk about record time with Marquez, but as he himself makes clear this weekend, returning to his bike at all is the real victory. A personal victory for a 28-year old guy who feared the worst for a second, unsure whether he’d be able to continue doing what he loves.

The new Marquez

So it’s no surprise then that he gives it his all in the race too. He may have ‘only’ finished seventh, helped by a few crashes too. But it little matters as his real aim was to return and, amazingly, he completes his first race. The first by a new Marquez: a rider who can’t quite get his elbow down yet, who can’t quite ride and push as he wants to, who knows it’s better to slow down if he finds himself taking risks. Will the old Marquez ever return? Maybe, but not right away… Or maybe not. Perhaps he can become even better. He’ll need a lot of time on the bike, as well as physical training in the gym. For now, the bone is not ready to bear too much weight. But Marquez thinks he’ll be training harder by mid-season.

The penultimate moment is an indelible one: Marc returns to the garage and breaks down in tears: “I wasn’t crying for the pain, but because the weight of these last months was finally lifted”. The impenetrable rider we once new is perhaps no more. No longer an alien, but a young man who’s been through a lot. But the alien is still there of course. He might not have won as some had predicted, but he was still the first Honda across the line. A sign that the RC213V continues to hold no secrets for him, even after a nine-month break.

The final moment: spotlights off, the long Portimao weekend comes to an end. In the dark, without the lights and the noise of the many opinions, we’re allowed to whisper it… The champion is back!

Translated by Heather Watson

MotoGP Portugal, Marquez on his return: “I don’t know how I’ll wake up tomorrow”