Already better than before
This week Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team RC213V get back out on track, a goal the seven-time world champion has been pushing hard for all winter.
Marc Marquez
“It’s difficult, the physio. Doing this in the morning, I’m very sleepy. I haven’t skipped a day, we started December 11th and we didn’t train on the 24th, 25th, 31st or 1st. These last few weeks are when it has hurt the most because everything is already set. The hardest thing is the psychological side, I’ve done this since December 11th for two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon.
“Until I get on the MotoGP bike, I won’t know what shape I’m in. I am aware that it will be quality over quantity in terms of the amount of laps I do. More than anything, that’s to avoid causing tendonitis or similar. I am also aware that if in the test I can’t put in the laps that I would like, it is only a test. We will all leave Malaysia with zero points. I have to be prudent and not throw away the hours I’ve spent recovering, the two months I’ve been recovering and been patient,”
After riding a practice bike the week before the test, Marc Marquez and his physiotherapist Carlos J. García have increased the intensity of their programme ahead of Sepang.
The Physiotherapist
“There are days when he is very patient, especially in the first phase of the recovery process. Then, little by little, when the sling came off he was more anxious. ‘I’ve had the sling removed, I can do it!’ and I would tell him ‘No, you can’t do it, do not move your shoulder.’ There it was necessary to stop him a little bit because if it were up to him, on January 7th he would have been on a bike. He only wants to be on a bike!” explained Carlos, the physiotherapist who has worked exclusively with Marquez since December.
“They took the wheels off my bikes!” interjected Marquez.
“There were orders for all the bikes to be dismantled. When we went to the gym and we passed by some bikes and he climbed onto one, assumed the riding position and made noises as if he were on track. That’s how much he wants to get on a bike again.
“The shoulder is better than during all of 2018, without a doubt. Regarding his mobility, we are at 90 per cent. What he does in terms of muscle to move his shoulder and arm is maybe 75-80 per cent in terms of mobility strength. We are in this phase of giving stability to the entire shoulder complex. The shoulder has to remain stable; his body has to react without him focusing on his shoulder. He has to disconnect and not think about the shoulder, focus on riding and have his body reacting.”
