One metric that could reveal Marc Marquez’s MotoGP summer break progress
Marc Marquez’s race heart rate could indicate whether his MotoGP summer training has restored strength to his weakened right shoulder.
Marc Marquez made no secret of his plan to use the MotoGP summer break to rebuild muscle in his right arm and shoulder.
Despite cutting the World Championship deficit from 102 to 18 points by the start of the break, the reigning champion still identified his right arm as his main limitation.
"The bike is working, as is the team and my mentality. I need to work on my body to try to make a step forward this summer; my holidays will be shorter,” Marquez said after completing a double victory at the Sachsenring.
“The right arm. It’s the only point I need to improve,” he added.
“I will try to work hard just to wake up some muscles that are sleeping.
“And if we can do it, then we can try to fight for the championship in this second part of the season."
Heart rate “higher than ever”
One measure of Marquez’s summer break progress could be his heart rate at Silverstone this weekend.
The Spaniard revealed at Brno that his heart rate had been “higher than ever” this season, due to his body being forced to work harder to compensate for the lack of strength in his right arm and shoulder.
“Luckily, now I don’t have numbness [after surgery to relieve a compressed radial nerve], I don’t have pain. I just have a lack of power, lack of muscle," he said.
"I compensate with other parts of my body, so it’s general fatigue.
“It’s also true that my heart rate - because we know how high the heart rate is in the races - since I came back from the injury is higher than ever. But at home it’s lower than ever.
“So that means when I'm riding the bike, I’m compensating with other things, for what I’m missing in the right arm.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
