Marc Marquez’s French Grand Prix weekend took a dramatic turn after a brutal highside crash in the sprint race forced the reigning MotoGP champion to undergo not one, but two surgeries in quick succession. The factory Ducati star has now been ruled out of next week’s Barcelona race and faces an uncertain timeline for his return to the track.
The nightmare unfolded on Saturday at Le Mans when Marquez suffered a nasty fall on the penultimate lap of the sprint, breaking the fifth metatarsal in his right foot upon impact. With the injury too severe to continue, he was forced to withdraw from the remainder of the French Grand Prix and immediately flew back to Spain.
By Sunday morning, Marquez was in a Madrid hospital for what turned into a double procedure. The first surgery addressed the fresh foot fracture, stabilizing the bone to begin the healing process. But the second operation was a pre-planned corrective measure—one that had been kept under wraps until now.
Doctors removed two screws and a bone fragment from his right shoulder, remnants of a violent crash at last October’s Indonesian Grand Prix, where he was hit by Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi. That impact had dislodged the hardware, causing persistent pain that Marquez had been managing through the early part of the season. The surgery was originally scheduled for after the Catalan Grand Prix, but Saturday’s crash accelerated the timeline.
“Marc Marquez is currently recovering at the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid, where he underwent successful double surgery this morning,” Ducati confirmed in a statement. The medical team, led by Dr. Samuel Antuna alongside a roster of specialists, successfully stabilized the foot fracture and addressed the shoulder issue in one fell swoop.
For a rider of Marquez’s caliber—a nine-time world champion known for his relentless grit—this setback is a tough pill to swallow. He has already been ruled out of the upcoming Barcelona race, and his participation in the Italian Grand Prix on May 31 remains uncertain, pending recovery progress.
As Marquez heads home to continue rehabilitation, the MotoGP paddock will be watching closely. The road back is never easy, but if anyone knows how to defy the odds, it’s the man who has made a career out of comebacks.