Marc Marquez Reveals Why Exiting "Painful" Dutch GP is Not An option
Categories: MotoGP
Marc Marquez is currently fighting a painful rib injury. Nevertheless, he does not want to give up the last Grand Prix before the summer break.
Despite severe pain and a supposedly hopeless situation, MotoGP star Marc Marquez does not want to end the race weekend in Assen prematurely, the last Grand Prix before the summer break is too important.
At the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring Marquez had withdrawn from the feature race on Sunday after a crash in the warm up, that should change in Assen.
With a hairline fracture in a rib, the Spaniard struggles through the training Friday, in which he does not get beyond a 19th PLatz.
“I don’t feel well. On the other weekends, I felt good and I was able to push. I didn’t race at the Sachsenring because I was not feeling well.”
“I felt pain everywhere […] especially, as I said, the rib. So, yeah, I feel a big limitation there, I cannot go for anything this weekend.”
Much too important to quit
Visibly battered, it seems surprising that the 30-year-old is even at the start, however, he revealed that the Dutch Grand Prix has more importance for him and Honda than one might think at first glance.
At Sachsenring and Assen he and LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami test the new Kalex chassis and the Honda standard frame, it is about a general direction for the rest of the season.
In one of the worst halves of Honda’s long MotoGP history, it is essential that they do everything they can to improve the bike, “even if it hurts.
A long summer break, stretching into early August, will follow Assen. Marquez thinks it would’ve been too mentally difficult to end this part of the season on a note like his German GP weekend.
He notes: “With the feeling of Sachsenring, being two months without bikes, believe me that is not the best for a rider.”
