MotoGP, Carlos García, Marc Marquez's physiotherapist: “Marc will not be recovered before Austin or Jerez”

After one shoulder operation much more complicated and painful than expected, and a few days before the first MotoGP test in which he will participate in Sepang, Marc Marquez has just gotten back on a motorcycle.

This is obviously excellent news which delights all MotoGP enthusiasts, but the reality cannot be forgotten: Marc Marquez will not be at his usual level before the end of the American tour or upon returning to Europe, in Jerez.

And it is his appointed physiotherapist who affirms this, the one in charge of his physical condition for two years and who, from now on, spends most of his time at his side and was therefore present at the presentation of the Repsol Honda team in Madrid and at the Barça-Sevilla match at Camp Nou.

Carlos J. Garcia is a physiotherapist at the Mobile Clinic and therefore travels the world participating in the MotoGP championship events. He also works in a clinic in Madrid but moved to Cervera to take full-time charge of Marc Marquez's convalescence.

Satisfied with the progress made by his patient, he nevertheless tempers excess optimism: “He’s tired of looking at the ceiling. I know how hard it is to lie down for five hours. We do exercises that are a little different, that are fun. We have to try to play with him as much as possible. I have the circuit maps and we do different things with them.
We still need to gain mobility. Passively, when I move my arm, he doesn't move his completely, but his biggest deficit is strength. For some movements, certain muscle groups are quite loose. It's a normal thing. He already has some guidelines on what can be done, and where the limits are. At no time should he give 100%. This certainly won't be the case. In his head, he will try to achieve the best conditions for the Qatar GP, but these will not be one hundred percent either.

In a normal process, this injury requires between 16 and 20 weeks after the operation, or between four and five months. It is reality. We like to think that they have super powers, that they are super men and that they can rewrite the movie, but the reality is this. They can shorten it a little. The more rehab you do, the better you get. The better the intervention and the more conscientious the injured person, the more the time will shorten a little, but you cannot go from 16 to 6 weeks. Maybe we can go to 14 or 12. That's the thing to keep in mind. If you do the math, you won't be able to say "now we're one hundred percent" until Jerez or Austin. There, maybe, but not before. IHe had to be stopped a bit because if it had been up to him, he would have been on his motorbike on January 7th. He only wants to be on a motorbike!”

“They took the wheels off my motorbikes! » rebels Marc Marquez.

“There were orders for all motorcycles to be dismantled. When we went to the gym and passed some motorcycles, he got on one, got into the riding position and made noise like he was on the track. This shows how much he wants to get back on a motorcycle.”, then declares Carlos Garcia.

Marc Marquez: « Do not say that ! They're going to say, 'This guy is crazy.' When I woke up, it hurt. Physiotherapy is difficult. Doing this first thing in the morning makes me very sleepy. I hardly skipped a single day, we started on December 11th and we didn't train on December 24th, 25th, 31st or 1st. These last few weeks, that's when it hurts the most. The hardest part is the psychological side, I have been doing it since December 11 for two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon.

Until I'm on MotoGP, I won't know what state I'm in. I'm aware that it will be quality over quantity, when it comes to the number of laps I do (at Sepang). More than anything, it's to avoid causing tendinitis or anything else. I'm also aware that if I can't do the number of laps I'd like in the test, it's just a test. We will all leave Malaysia with zero points. I have to be careful and not waste the hours I spent recovering, the two months I spent recovering and being patient. »

Marc Marquez will make his return on February 6, in Sepang, for the 3 days of official MotoGP testing.
The first Grand Prix, in Qatar, will take place on March 10. It will be followed by Argentina (March 31), Austin (April 14) and Jerez (May 5).