Marc Marquez “not enjoying” riding, but nerve recovery delivers unusual post-Sprint sign

Marc Marquez reached the chequered flag of a MotoGP race for the first time since Jerez with fifth place in Saturday's Sprint at Mugello.

The reigning champion, returning from shoulder surgery to relieve a compressed radial nerve, impressed by qualifying as the leading Ducati rider in fourth - then snatched the holeshot from the Aprilias at Turn 1.

But it didn’t last.

While the nerve problem appears to be solved, the Spaniard lacks the strength to deliver more than a hot lap at full speed and claimed he expected to finish in seventh.

“During qualifying, in one hot lap, I was riding well, but where I feel more limitation is in the race distance, or in consecutive laps because the energy is dropping,” Marc Marquez explained.

“I tried in FP2 to do four-five consecutive fast lap and saw that I was struggling a lot.

“So in the race I tried to not go over my 100 percent now. Because what I would gain in the beginning, I would lose in the last laps, because I'm still not ready to ride well for all the laps.

“Yesterday I felt pain; today I don't feel any extra pain, but I just feel a lack of energy.”

“It sounds like a joke but..."

Nonetheless, Marquez then revealed an unlikely positive sign after the race, where he was able to hold a pen and write normally for the first time this year.

“The most positive thing for me is that when I finished the sprint race, I was able to write the notes!” he smiled.

“It sounds like a joke, but the last races I was finishing the sprint, and I was not able to write on a piece of paper because my hand was shaking.

“So this means that the nerve is recovering in a normal way. Now I just need to be on the bike and keep going as we did today.

“Tomorrow I will not change the strategy and just try to find my place, which, honestly speaking, today I thought was seventh place. Because I believe that Fermin and Pecco are a bit faster than me. 

"But let's see. We will try to survive that 23 laps.”

"I know how to ride a bike"

Marquez admitted “nobody knows” when he will reach peak fitness but admitted it’s not fun to ride in his current physical condition, describing the Mugello weekend as ‘real work’.

“I would like to be much better in Brno. I wish, and I hope, that in Brno it will be better. But what is my 100%? I don't know,” he said.

“Right now, the way to go on the bike and ride is real work. I'm not enjoying riding a bike in these conditions, but it's real work to improve for the future and enjoy in the future.”

Marquez concluded: “The speed is there. I know how to ride a bike. But when you have speed without control then you cannot be consistent and that’s what we need to work on over the next month.”

Team-mate Pecco Bagnaia finished in seventh place.