Marc Marquez reveals surprising change in MotoGP riding style since surgery
Marc Marquez explains how adapting his riding style after shoulder surgery transformed his MotoGP season.
Marc Marquez says adaptation rather than rehabilitation has been the secret to his stunning MotoGP title turnaround this season.
The reigning champion was 102 points behind then-leader Marco Bezzecchi after returning from his latest round of shoulder surgery at Mugello.
Since then, Marquez has won seven Grands Prix, compared with just one for Bezzecchi and none for closest rival Jorge Martin.
With Martin out injured, Marquez extended his World Championship lead to 44 points with victory at Sepang on Sunday.
The Ducati star will now have his first mathematical chance of winning a tenth world title in Qatar next weekend, with Portimao and Valencia to follow.
“I’m worse in the left corners"
“I would say that it was more adaptation than rehabilitation,” Marc Marquez said of his World Championship comeback.
“I just tried to adapt my riding style. I'm riding in a different way to last year, but I’m still able to be fast.”
Pressed on how he is riding differently, Marquez, who battled radial-nerve issues in his shoulder earlier this year, revealed:
“It’s strange, but I’m worse in the left corners and I’m better in the right corners.
“Alex [Marquez] can tell you in the data.
"I don’t know why, but on the left corners I don’t have [the same] control, and on the right corners I’m better.
“But it’s true that I’m still performing better in the left corners than the right.”
Marquez explains ride-height device tactic
A more obvious detail of Marquez's riding during Sunday's dominant display at Sepang was his limited use of the ride-height device, a tactic sometimes employed to save tyre wear.
“Yes. If you are not leading, you can do it,” Marquez said.
“I was just trying to prepare well for the corner exit, and I was using it quite early, but not on the acceleration.
“So, in the end it was the first compromise.
“It was nearly the first weekend that I rode full attack from FP1, so when you are riding full attack from FP1 you can set up better the bike.”
Marquez: “It’s a Ducati track”
Marquez's victory was Ducati's tenth Malaysian MotoGP win and fifth in a row.
“In this race track, if you have a good engine, everything is easier,” he said.
“Ducati has a good engine, is good in the stop-and-go corners. Then in the flowing corners, because the grip is super low, if you have a better bike, you cannot use the corner speed because the limit here are the tyres.
“So, yeah, also as Alex showed last year, and Pecco two years ago, it’s a Ducati track.”
Polesitter Alex Marquez, who revealed he will undergo shoulder surgery upon returning to Spain, finished third on Sunday behind KTM's Sprint winner Pedro Acosta.
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.
