The Honda rider took an impressive seventh place in his first race in nine months at Portimao since breaking his right arm at the Spanish Grand Prix last July.
Marquez had ridden a motorcycle only three times since his aborted comeback at the second race in Jerez last year and had ridden two wheels in the month before Portugal on the orders of doctors.
This meant that he suffered in the latter stages of the Portuguese GP and admitted that he couldn’t even bring his elbow down as was his physical condition.
Marquez has been instructed by doctors not to ride bicycles between races and to keep his workout lightly at the gym while the bone in his arm continues to strengthen.
This, combined with the varied physical nature of MotoGP tracks, has made it difficult for Marquez to aim for a time when he expects to be fully fit again.
Also read:
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“To be honest, I don’t know because it depends on the track whether it’s really a physical track or not,” he said when asked when he expected to be fully fit again.
“For example the last seven laps [in Portugal] I couldn’t even use my elbow to touch the floor.
“I drove in a really weird driving style and I couldn’t do anything.
“Another important point that we are already talking to the doctors before this race and the comeback of the competition means that training at home has to be less.
“So that means that I no longer ride a bike from race to race, but only train for three or four days and not train a lot in the gym [training] because the bone is fine, but the stress we can put on the bone must be progressive.
“It can’t be every day and every week. So this is another reason, which of course means that it will take some time before we are in good physical shape again.
“But I have to follow the advice of the doctors because they give me the opportunity to ride a MotoGP bike.
“So now I just do one bike race after race and after the next check we will see how the bone is and if we can do a little more.
“But the next check will be to Jerez.”
After his comeback race, Marquez took 14th place in the championship with nine points with a not insurmountable gap of 52 points to leader Fabio Quartararo.
In 2020, Joan Mir finished 14th from 48 points deficit after the first three laps to win the championship, while Marquez overcame a 37 point deficit after six races in 2017 to win the title.