MotoGP Champ Marc Marquez Back On Track With Honda RC213V-S

Will he be ready for the first race of the season?

By: Dustin Wheelen

Mar 16, 2021 at 1:08pm ET

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Many expected the worst when Marc Marquez went back under the knife on December 3, 2020. The six-time MotoGP champion underwent his third surgery to repair a broken humerus suffered during a high-side crash in the first round of the 2020 season. Unfortunately, the second operation failed to heal the fracture. Fortunately, the latest procedure yielded much better results and the Spanish phenom is now training harder than ever.

On March 12, 2021, Marquez’s medical team verified bone consolidation in the racer’s right arm and announced that he could intensify training as a result. Shortly after, number 93 posted footage of himself practicing at the Circuit d’Alcarras on a Honda-branded mini bike. Only four days removed from the medical update, Marquez took to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on a full-sized Honda RC213V-S.

The RC213V-S, Honda’s street-legal MotoGP replica, sold for $184,000 in 2016. The platform was based on Marquez’s 2014-2015 MotoGP machine and boasts a 90-degree, 999cc V4. Due to racing regulations, Marquez can only ride the current RC213V race machine at official MotoGP tests. The race replica is the closes he could get to the real thing and may be the perfect stepping stone for his rapid recovery.

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Many expected Marquez to reacclimate to MotoGP speeds slowly. Riding a mini bike was a predictable first step in that process. What most weren’t expecting was Marquez to jump on a MotoGP track so quickly. However, he doesn’t have much time to train if he wants to make it back to the paddock by the first round of the 2021 season.

The Qatar Grand Prix is scheduled for March 28, 2021 and the season’s first practice session is just 10 days away. The eight-time world champ still has his work cut out for him, but if we’ve learned anything from Marc Marquez, it's to expect the unexpected.