Jorge Martin’s MotoGP title charge faces surgery dilemma after Misano arm pump

Aprilia’s Jorge Martin says he was “out of control” on the bike during the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix due to an arm pump issue and now faces a surgery dilemma.

The 2024 world champion emerged as a surprise early victory contender in Sunday’s 27-lap race, after he passed eventual winner Marc Marquez in the early stages.

But Jorge Martin ultimately faded to fifth at the chequered flag, with Marquez now level with him on points at the top of the standings.

Martin says arm pump led to his struggles, and is now considering surgery.

“I had a big issue with arm pump,” he said.

“It’s a pity. I think we lost a big opportunity today. I was feeling really good. I started in a great way.

“I thought Marc was going to pull away, but then I was catching him again, and I went into the lead.

“After that, I was even pulling away. I was feeling in a good pace, not pushing like crazy and still pulling away.

“But then I started to have issues with braking, then opening the throttle, and every lap was worse and worse.

“At the end, I couldn’t do anything; I was completely out of control of the bike. It’s a pity.

“It’s something that arrived today. For sure, I was struggling a bit during the weekend, but I didn’t expect that today it was going to be the issue of the race.

“Now I don’t have time to do anything. I have to recover well, try to be focused in Austria, but for sure we need to understand what to do after Austria, if I need to undergo surgery or not, because now there are a lot of races together.

“So, I don’t know if the best option is to undergo surgery or not.

“But these are things I cannot control. Today was like this. I think I have to be happy because on Friday I was on the limit to go to Q2.

“Now today I was in the lead, pulling away. I enjoyed a lot those first laps, I was super happy and it was so nice to fight with Marc and overtake him. But this is racing and this can happen.”

“I don’t want to lose this opportunity”

Martin hasn’t had arm pump since 2019, when he last had surgery on it, and will use next week’s Austrian Grand Prix to assess if the issue can be managed without going under the knife.

“I had it in 2019 and I underwent surgery, and after that I never had this problem again,” he added.

“I was able to win here in the past. Now it has arrived again. I saw different riders who, after years, had the issue again and maybe had to do the surgery again.

“Maybe it’s my case. Maybe not. I will try to understand with doctors, also listen to the recovery time and let’s see what I can do, because I don’t want to lose the opportunity.

“I feel ready to fight for the championship, today I was ready to fight for the win. So, this is something that cannot help me. But we need to check.

“For sure, I feel ready, I feel I have the speed, the bike, the team; I have everything, nothing is missing.

“But now I have this question mark about my arm. I think Austria won’t be an issue, but I don’t know.

“But for sure it will be a nice test, so in Austria, if I don’t have any problems, maybe I can move forward, forget about this.

“But maybe this will happen again in another race. So, it could be the big issue of losing this championship or not. I don’t know.”