After 11 years, 59 wins and six world championships, Marc Marquez has plenty of fond memories from his time as a Repsol Honda MotoGP rider.
But there have also been some dark moments and on the eve of his final weekend for the team, Marquez was asked to pick out the worst of them.
Unsurprisingly, he named Jerez 2020. Not the initial arm-breaking accident, but an early comeback attempt the following weekend.
“The worst moment I will say was 2020, when I came back. That was the biggest mistake of my career and of that long era with Honda,” Marquez said.
Stress from that comeback attempt weakened the newly fitted plate holding Marquez’s broken bone together.
Feeling something wasn’t right, Marquez withdrew before qualifying, but the damage had been done and the plate failed at home soon after.
That meant a second round of surgery, which then required a third operation to clean up an infection. It wasn’t until after a major all-or-nothing fourth procedure, in May 2022, that Marquez finally regained full mobility in the arm.
Without a race win since 2021, Marquez has cut his losses and will join younger brother Alex at Gresini Ducati next season.
“The only goal for next year is to enjoy it again, to continue with my career,” he said.
“This is the only goal because the situation I’m in now, I can ‘survive’ half year, one year more [without enjoyment]. But not longer. So this is the main goal.
“I cannot think about winning the championship because in the last two years, I didn’t win a race! So we are far from that.”
Marquez, who has one podium so far this season, will make his Ducati debut in testing at Valencia on Tuesday.
But for now his focus is fully on one last weekend with HRC, at least for now.
“I’m sorry but I won’t speak about [Ducati], especially because I have huge respect for Honda and my full commitment will be until the last lap in Valencia. So I’m just focused on this weekend and then on Monday, we will start working with the next year’s team,” he said.
“I don’t like to say that it will be my last race with Honda because you never know, but it will be the end of an era and the end of a nice chapter where we’ve achieved six world championships in 11 years which have been amazing.
“This weekend I want to enjoy myself on track and I want to enjoy all the moments [with the team] because next year it will be difficult to imagine working with another group.
“But in the end, it was my decision and it’s what I want to do.”
Keyword: Valencia MotoGP: Marc Marquez: 2020 comeback my biggest mistake