Shoulder ‘more stable’, but Mugello a ‘big limitation’ circuit for Marquez

Marc Marquez finished day-one of MotoGP free practice in Mugello 12th fastest - one spot ahead of team-mate Pol Espargaro. 

Mugello has never been of the strongest circuits for Marquez from a results perspective, having taken just one win back in 2014. 

Since his MotoGP return in Portimao, Marquez has been limited due to his arm which has seen his riding style look quite unfamiliar. 

However, the Repsol Honda rider says a shift in his mentality has seen him start to ride more naturally. 

"The biggest difference is the mentality. In Jerez still I was thinking a lot about my arm, how to ride, how to improve. The arm, the arm," said Marquez. 

"Always I was coming in the box and speaking about the arm. I was saying, ‘I have limitations there and put the soft tyre. Now I ride like what I need on the bike. I don’t think on the arm. 

"I realise and I’m just conscious about my limitations. On the points where I have the limitations I don’t push more. But in the other points I’m riding what I believe is better. 

"Today I do what I did in 2019, start with M in morning, put H in afternoon because the temperature was the correct one."

Marquez recently said he didn’t want to ride with the hard front with safety in mind, but using that tyre compound in FP2 indicates Marquez is feeling more comfortable on the RC213V. 

During the three races Marquez has been involved in this season, the Spaniard has remained on antibiotics. But following Catalunya - round after Mugello, Marquez could be off the medication which would be a ‘huge step’ for the ‘physical condition’.   

Marquez added: "About the antibiotics, if the next check is fine – that should be after Catalunya – I will stop with antibiotics. This will be a huge step for my physical condition. 

"About the shoulder it’s something we need to understand well. It’s in the next check after Catalunya. We’ll try to understand more deeply what’s going on in the shoulder. It’s the word that I repeat more or I listen to more is ‘be patient’. 

"The feeling is changing. It’s true the shoulder is more stable this last month and it’s where I have the biggest limitation, but apart from that, for example, today straight away I realised in this circuit I have a big limitation. 

"Anyway, it’s like this. Just to understand after FP1 I wanted to check compared to 2019 just to understand where I am losing more – it’s the 3 big changes of direction where I’m losing 0.2 compared to 2019. 

"The rest of the corners I feel not bad. So yeah, just be patient. It takes time. What I did today was just ride my pace. Just concentrate on a few things on the bike. And I hope we’ll have a better time in the future."

Having revealed yesterday that he had considered temporarily stopping after Jerez if doctors had thought it would be beneficial to his recovery, Marquez also responded to rumours that he might call a halt to this weekend if the pain from his right shoulder is too much.

"Tomorrow I will ride of course and I feel okay. Then tomorrow we will see again. At the moment we are good enough to ride, have a good rhythm and try a few things. Finish or not finish the race depends on the rhythm, to be faster is more demanding physically and in a good rhythm I cannot finish."