Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez has ridden a motorcycle for the first time since surgery on a right-shoulder injury to evaluate his fitness ahead of next month’s Sepang test.
Marquez partially dislocated the shoulder in a heavy crash during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, before aggravating it further in a tumble during testing at Jerez in November.
Marquez underwent surgery shortly after the test, and admitted his recovery has been tougher this time around than a year ago when he underwent a similar operation on a repeating left shoulder dislocation in 2018.
With just a week until the first three-day test of the year in Malaysia, Marquez took to a karting circuit in Tarragon, Spain, aboard a Honda NSF 250 Moto3 bike to evaluate his physical condition.
In a short statement on Twitter, he admitted his feeling on the bike was “not the best”.
After two months without bike yesterday I rode again to check my feeling with the right shoulder. The feelings were not the best but I’m very happy because we are doing important steps!✊? pic.twitter.com/W9AQ2bfi7O
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) January 30, 2020
“After two months without [riding a] bike, yesterday [Wednesday] I rode again to check my feeling with the right shoulder,” the post read.
“The feelings were not the best, but I’m very happy because we are doing important steps.”
At an awards event in Spain last week, Marquez admitted he will be short of full fitness for the Sepang test.
“Since December 2 I have been [going through] rehabilitation with the shoulder,” he said.
“In two weeks we have the first pre-season test – the Sepang test, from February 7 to 9 – which I will reach 60% or 70% physical [fitness for].”