Marquez back on a bike ahead of Sepang MotoGP test

Marc Marquez has tested out his shoulder on a bike for the first time since his surgery as he ramps up preparations for pre-season MotoGP testing.

The reigning world champion has been recovering from a right shoulder operation he underwent on November 27 immediately after the post-season tests having suffered with the injury over the latter part of last year.

Marquez has already conceded he won’t be fully fit in time for the Sepang test on February 7-9 as his recovery has taken longer than initially expected. Despite the less aggressive nature of the surgery compared to a similar operation he had on his left shoulder 12 months before, work to his shoulder nerves has slowed his rehabilitation.

Two months and two days following his operation, Marquez has got back on a bike, believed to be a BEON 450, at Vendrell karting track in the southern region of Barcelona. A number of MotoGP riders use the BEON 450 to train on with the aiming of replicating the physical demands and riding styles of a MotoGP machine.

“After two months without bike yesterday I rode again to check my feeling with the right shoulder. The feelings were not the best but I’m very happy because we are doing important steps,” Marquez wrote his Instagram account.

Marquez will be balancing his recovery with his pre-season testing programme at Sepang as he returns to action on February 7-9.

The Repsol Honda rider faced a similar situation last year as he began testing still not fully fit from his first shoulder operation and subsequently expects to need to alter his track programme at Sepang.

“I think the test in Malaysia will be like last year; I won’t be able to do all the laps I want but it will help to work on the shoulder as well,” Marquez said last week.

“Last year Jorge Lorenzo was injured and so it fell to me to evolve the bike. Now the dynamic is the same because my team-mate is Alex and he’s a rookie and cannot ask much when it comes to concepts of the bike because – like Jorge Lorenzo – he has to understand the bike and know how is a Honda.”

Marquez isn’t alone in recovering from shoulder surgery with both LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Tech3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira facing the same situation.

Nakagami missed the final three rounds of the 2019 campaign and the post-season tests to undergo surgery on October 29, while Oliveira missed the final round and post-season tests to have surgery on November 3.

Marquez’s next official engagement is the Repsol Honda MotoGP team launch in Jakarta on February 4 before the Sepang pre-season test which starts three days later.