Lorenzo: Injury Still Weighing Down Marquez

Marquez’s 2020 injury is still effecting him in some manner, according to former team-mate and bike racing veteran Lorenzo

Former MotoGP great Jorge Lorenzo says Marc Marquez is still ‘weighed down’ by his past arm injury in 2024, but is hopeful that he can add a seventh premier class title to his total.

Now a TV analyst for Spanish channel DAZN, three-time MotoGP champion Lorenzo believes he has witnessed how Marquez continues to be influenced by the arm he shattered in a terrible incident at the Spanish Grand Prix four years ago.

Marquez was taking part in the postponed 2020 season-opener when he suffered a tremendous highside at Turn 3 and fell hard on the ground. The damage he incurred in the incident led to an extended injury layoff for the then-Honda rider, needing a total of four procedures between 2020 and ‘22 before he could restore full fitness and not face any limits on a MotoGP bike.

While that career-altering collision has now been a matter of the past as Marquez has regained form, his old team-mate Lorenzo feels he is still not able to ride at his 100 per cent owing to the residual repercussions of the crash.

“In some braking zones you can see that the injury is weighing him down,” Lorenzo told DAZN. “All this added together means that a champion like Marc Marquez, with supposedly the best bike - even if it's not the new one - is still not winning [races].”

A switch to the Gresini squad riding a year-old Ducati has allowed Marquez to race near the pointy end of the group again in 2024. Following last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, he sits a strong fourth in the championship with 192 points, having landed on the podium four times so far this year.

A win, however, has proved elusive, with the 2024 season so far having been dominated by Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin on the latest-spec Ducati GP24.

Lorenzo is dubious if Marquez would be leading the championship chase at this stage of the year, had he been on the same equipment as factory Ducati rider Bagnaia or Pramac ace Martin.

“Maybe he would have won with the 2024 bike. Is it feasible that he would be leading the global championship? I don't know,” he said.

“He was so far ahead of his rivals on a technical level in 2019, before that injury - he was far superior to many. Not only in terms of titles, but also on a technological and physical level.

“After his Ducati move, people thought of the rule of three: best rider, with the best bike, they're going to sweep the year.

“Even I said that he was going to win the championship. That he wasn't going to sweep the season, but that he was going to win the title. You may also read this: The Paradox Of Motogp Concessions

“And so far he still hasn't achieved any victories. He's competed for victories, he's got podiums, but he hasn't won, and he's Marc Marquez.”

Marquez has won a promotion to the factory Ducati squad in 2025 on the basis of his outstanding adaption to the GP23, a move that will put him squarely against two-time champion Bagnaia.

While the Italian has slowly established himself as the man to beat in MotoGP, Lorenzo feels Marquez can win another championship and tie his opponent Valentino Rossi in the list of riders with the most premier class championships.

“That injury in Jerez 2020 is weighing him down physically,” he remarked. “But we have seen great champions, like Mick Doohan, win four world championships with practically one and a half legs.

“I don't think we've seen Marc Marquez's last title yet, possibly, but it's not going to be easy for him to win a championship again, because he has two young riders in front of him.

“Now Jorge Martin is going to Aprilia, but he has Pecco Bagnaia, who is younger than him, very fast and almost perfect.”