MotoGP star Marc Márquez.
David Clares, ČTK / AP
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During the latest procedure, Márquez’s doctors replaced a damaged titanium plate, which fixed his injured area. The six-time MotoGP champion now has to spend the next 48 hours in a Barcelona hospital, and due to a lack of convalescence, he decided to skip the Czech GP after an agreement with the team. In Brno, where Márquez dominated the strongest class in 2013, 2017 and 2019 and triumphed in Moto2 in 2012, the racing program will begin with Friday’s practice.
“Thirteen days ago, he underwent surgery and has now returned to the operating room,” the attending physician Xavier Mir said in a statement. “The first procedure was successful, but the plate was insufficient than expected. The loading of the operated area resulted in its damage,” the surgeon explained why the fixative had to be removed and replaced with a new one.
The wounded Marc Márquez is taken by paramedics to an ambulance on a stretcher.
Marcelo Del Pozo, Reuters
Twenty-seven-year-old Márquez seems to have paid for the effort to return to the track early and overburden the damaged area. “We must now wait 48 hours before his health can be reassessed,” Mir said. Shortly afterwards, the team announced Márquez’s absence. “After a heroic return in Jerez just four days after the operation, Marc Márquez will lose the race in Brno,” the Repsol Honda team said in a statement.
Honda will not replace the injured Márquez at the weekend
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Márquez was injured on July 19 in the inaugural race of a renewed season marked by the coronavirus pandemic. During a nasty fall at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, he broke his humerus and during the subsequent operation, doctors fixed a few screws instead of a titanium plate.
The following weekend, Márquez intended to start in another race in Jerez. He also received permission from doctors and took part in two training sessions on Saturday, but the pain did not allow him to start in the end. The defending champion has not even scored a point yet, the French Yamaha driver Fabio Quartararo will strive for his third victory in Brno.
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