His worsening injury history

Marquez entered 2🃏023 expecting to be injury-free for the first time in years. The highside at Jerez 2020, and his rushed comeback, were in the rear-view mirror.

Even last summer’s career-threatening a🍌rm injury, the fourth of its kind, had been recovered from.

Marquez ended 2022 with a pole posi🎃tion and a podium finish to hint at brighter times ahead, and his pre-season Amazon Prime Video 🍨documentary suggested that he targeting the MotoGP title again.

So to have sustained a completely new injury just three l♏aps into the season is a nightmare scenario.

The bone that Marquez broke in his hand as a result of crashing into Miguel Oliveira in Portimao has been described as delicate. He missed Jerez a fortnight ago when doctors told him that the screws they inserted to fix the꧒ fracture could not withstand the power of a braking MotoGP bike, and further da🌸mage would end his career.

Now aged 30, the injuries just continue tot𝔍ting up even when Marque🧸z appeared to be fully fit again.

And he finds himself in a vicious cyc🍸le - claiming that his sub-par bike requires him to overstretch it in certain moments, as a result causing crash𒐪es and new injuries.

A hostile welcome

Marquez is div♕isive and made enemies on the MotoGP grid with this season’s incident at Portimao.

In a cruel twist of fate as he makes hi♛s comeback this weekend, Miguel Oliveira will be absent due to a different injury caused by a crash with Fabio Quartararo.

But the manner of Marquez’s crash irked riders and it isn’t the🅘 first time.

Aleix Espargaro called for a one-race ban at the time, then this week he added: “If it can hap𝔉pen to anyone? Yes, but how many ti𒁃mes has it happened to him and how many to me or Pecco?”

He even said: “Why do we all dare with Ta🥀kaaki Nakagami and then we ꩵask Fabio and Pecco about Marc and their answers are 'yeah, well..."

MotoGP rider✨s are guaranteed to be asked about the safety aspect of Marquez’s manoeuvres this weekend, and the Honda rider should expect a few hostile answers.

Has the 2023 world championship gone?

Last season Francesco Bagna💮ia overcame a 91-point deficit to edge Fabio Qua✃rtararo at the final round to win the championship - it was an all-time record high comeback in terms of points.

Marquez enters Le Mans 80 points behind the current pace-s♏etter Bagnaia.

The size of the task facing him to re-enter the championship hunt is obviously colossal even if this seaso𝔍n there are more points available due to the addition of sprint races.

To see the reigning champion Bagnaia, on a factory Ducati which is clearly the best machine on the 2023 grid,💙 already out in front is an ominous sight for everyone but will be hellacious for Marquez to chase down.

He entered this year hoping to win his seventh premier class title and equal Valentino Rosꦫsi’s tally.

But time is suddenly against him in his quest to become M⛄otoGP champion for the first time since 2019.

His Honda future

Perhaps ♌awkwardly for Marquez, Honda won their first grand prix in two years du🐲ring his absence through Alex Rins.

It was also their first win since 2018 from a♔ rider other than Marquez.

And it arrived just day🐬s after Rins complained that he felt “under-used” by Honda in developing a bike which he implied was created for Marquez’s preferences.

Rins’ victory in Texas, one of Marquez’s favourites races, was a sign that Ho🍷nda may not need to be wholly relian♍t on their star rider.

Mar♍quez delivered♌ a cutting ultimatum to Honda at the beginning of this year - ‘I’ll win with you, or without you’.

But the dynamic has now🎀 changed, with him c🌃ompleting just two laps in the first five rounds.

2024 will be the final year on Marquez’s hugely lucrative contract with ☂Honda.

The RC213V still does not look like a bike capable of regularly challenging Ducati and, with Marquez’s inj﷽uries piling up, it is plausible he will never claim another championship.

The problem he faces is that Ducati have regularly and🍨 publicly stated that they wi♚ll not sign Marquez for 2025 because they want to focus on nurturing younger talent. A bluff? A negotiating tactic? Or the truth?

Jorge Lorenzo, his ex-teammate and rival, believes that Ducati will offer him a deal with much lower c𝔉ompensation than his huge Honda contract, and believes Marquez will then have a difficult decision to make - money or the championship.

Even if Marquez𝓡 prefers to stay with Honda, the team which he is forever associated with, will the Japanese manufacturer be inclined to continue paying the type of money that they currently give him?

At 32 in 2025 and with question marks over his physical capability he will be a very different proposition t🌠o the phenom who signed his current mega-deal.