Catalan Moto GP pilot, Marc Márquez, has undergone surgery on his right shoulder this Wednesday afternoon at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona. The procedure was a success. The intervention has corrected a partial dislocation of the shoulder joint and has been carried out by doctors Xavier Mir Víctor Marlet and Teresa Marlet from the Catalan Trauma and Sports Medicine Institute (ICATME). 

Sources from his HRC team have informed that he will be allowed to go home in 48 hours and therefore he could be out of the clinic this very Friday. On Thursday morning, the Spanish pilot, still convalescent and from his hospital bed, thanked fans for all of the good wishes he has received via a message in his social networks:

“Good morning. I am already awake, more or less. Surgery was a success. Looking forward to starting recovery! Thank you for all the good wishes”.  

Two months of physiotherapy 

As soon as he leaves the hospital, Marquez will be taken to Cervera, his home town, where he will start the rehabilitation process until he is fighting fit. It has been estimated that this will take approximately two months. The six-time MotoGP champion will once again have to work during the winter holidays. As it happens, last Christmas he also had to spend recovering from surgery, on that occasion of his other shoulder. 

As far as his motives go, Marquez has given his reasons through a press note released by his team: “It is true that I would have liked to have a proper, relaxing holiday this winter after this wonderful 2019 that we have had, but it was time to fix my right shoulder”.  

After consulting several specialists regarding how best to proceed with his condition, Marc opted for undergoing preventative surgery. This will help avoid the recurrent issues he has had on his left shoulder, which has dislodged a few times over the past few years. 

“As everyone knows, last winter was very difficult for me after the surgery on my left shoulder which was badly damaged. Now I want to avoid the same thing happening on my right arm in the future. This is why I consulted several doctors to know which were my options.” – revealed Marquez. 

On that occasion, it was his left shoulder that was injured and prevented him from enjoying a well-deserved break in 2018. Today as back then, he has a goal in sight. Next season’s first official training sessions, which will take place in Sepang in February 2020. His priority is to be completely recovered for the occasion. 

The origins of his shoulder injury

The current MotoGP champion started having problems with his shoulder before the Japanese race, and those got worse in Malaysia. In Sepang’s classifying round he suffered a heavy fall which resulted in a partial dislocation of the shoulder.  To make things worse, he fell again on Monday the 24th of November during the tests at the Circuit of Jerez that were scheduled to mark the end of the season. 

In spite of his injury, the Catalan pilot said goodbye to the year by setting the best time on the last training session. He managed to make a time of 1:37.820, just ahead of the Suzukies of Alex Rins and Joan Mir by 0.017 and 0.139 respectively. 

But that is not all. Three days before that, at the Valencia GP, he got his 12th victory of the year and his eighteenth podium in nineteen races. This year he has also taken his sixth MotoGP title and his eight across categories. 

Images of Marc Márquez: Honda HRC.