Marc Marquez's horrific crash at the Le Mans sprint race already ruled him out for tomorrow's race, but the bad news doesn't end there. The physical condition of his foot and shoulder will also prevent him from competing in the Catalan Grand Prix.

After the nasty crash that saw him being taken to the pits on a scooter, Marquez was seen needing support to walk. The No.93 Factory Ducati rider was diagnosed with a 5th metatarsal fracture on his right foot after the race. He will visit Madrid to undergo surgery for the same.

Additionally, he will undergo another surgery on the right shoulder that he injured at last season’s Indonesian GP. This was scheduled following the Catalan GP, but the surgery will now be brought forward.

Marquez’s weekend at the Le Mans circuit was off to a poor start, finishing 13th in the Practice round, thus not making it directly to Q2 in a long time. However, he put on a brilliant show in Q1, breaking the lap record at the Le Mans circuit with a time of 1:29:288 seconds.

He went on to perform similarly in Q2, and it seemed like he would win another pole, but Francesco Bagnaia’s performance denied him that opportunity.

The No. 93 rider was unable to replicate this kind of success in the Sprint session. He lost key positions in the opening lap and was later overtaken by Pedro Acosta on Lap 2. Things worsened further when he lost traction at the front.

While he managed to recover from that, his rear got washed off, resulting in the bike flipping multiple times while Marquez just managed not to end up under the bike.

Marc Marquez: ‘I realized something wasn’t right after Jerez’

He spoke to the DAZN channel after the incident, finally coming clean about why he was inconsistent so far in this season. He says it all goes back to the Spanish Grand Prix, when he realized something was not quite right.

His current physical condition is what was causing him to make mistakes, as he could not position himself correctly on the bike.

“After Jerez, I realized something wasn’t right. We went to see the doctors, and they found that everything was fine, but that the infamous broken screw, the one in the lateral ligament, was in a different position. It was a very strange feeling, because at home I felt fine, but when I came here, it prevented me from riding, because it was touching the radial nerve.

"That’s what causes me to make mistakes, be inconsistent, and have unexpected crashes. That’s why I was so calm. We’ll do it all at once. The shoulder procedure is simply opening it up and removing that screw. The recovery time should be short. My head is in the right place, but I can’t be consistent because, when there’s a problem with the nerve, it fails when you least expect it.”

Fans of the Spaniard will be worried about his injury, but they can at least breathe a sigh of relief that he is not ‘finished’, as per many comments online. Even so, he is set to miss two races, and given the position he is in, the road to redemption is not an easy one.

However, if history is any proof, Marquez knows how to turn things around, and that is what will make this season even more interesting.

Follow Motor Culture for more

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason