Marc Marquez to miss opening two rounds of 2021 MotoGP

The 2021 MotoGP season will get underway without Marc Marquez, as the six-time premier class champion has elected to sit out the opening two rounds at Qatar on 28 March and 4 April.

The decision was made on advice from a medical team led by Doctors Samuel Antuña and Ignacio Roger de Oña of the Hospital Ruber Internacional in Madrid.

Marquez broke the humerus in his right arm at last year’s season-opening race in Jerez on 19 July. Attempting – unsuccessfully - to come back for the following round, he later broke the plate holding the bones together, requiring a second operation, which became infected and led to pseudoarthrosis, a condition where the two sections of a broken bone heal without knitting together.

Marquez’s third and most recent surgery, on 3 December, took eight hours and involved removal of the previous plate and placement of a new plate, as well as an iliac crest bone graft with a corticoperiosteal free flap.

The recovery from this complex procedure has been slow and, as recently as February, Marquez was unable to do basic tasks like opening a door or using cutlery, without pain.

By the beginning of March, Marquez said he felt like he could ride “soon,” but didn’t take part in either of the official MotoGP test sessions at Qatar (on 6-7 March and 10-12 March) as he slowly builds strength into his weakened arm.

Marquez did ride the Honda RC213V-S at track days in Catalunya on 17 March, but in a statement from HRC on 22 March, it was confirmed the Spaniard would not take part in the opening two rounds of the championship.

According to the statement, the medical team considered it “prudent and necessary” not to accelerate Marquez’s return to the track after such an inactive time and that the “intense competition” of MotoGP could put the humerus at risk of new damage.

“After the last review with the medical team, the doctors have advised me that the most prudent thing was not to take part in the Qatar Grand Prix and to continue with the recovery plan that we have followed in recent weeks,” Marquez said.

“I would have loved to be able to participate in the opening race of the World Championship, but we will have to continue working to be able to recover the optimal conditions that allow us to return to competition.”

Marquez will undergo a new medical check on Monday, April 12, so may return for Round 3 at Portimao on 18 April.