Jorge Martin, who returned to riding on Tuesday, sought advice from Marc Marquez before undergoing surgery again this winter to address persistent issues with his collarbone and scaphoid.
The winter has not unfolded exactly as Martin had planned. Despite making his comeback in Valencia at the final round of last season – after missing the previous four races due to the crash he suffered in Japan, where he broke his right collarbone and left scaphoid – the Spaniard was unable to shake off the discomfort in the weeks that followed.
The situation worsened one day at home when he reached for a bottle. “I started feeling pain in both my wrist and my collarbone. Suddenly I felt a very sharp stab in the collarbone area,” the Aprilia rider admitted last week at the Sepang circuit.
That episode made him realise something might not be right.
“Jorge called me at the end of the season to ask for advice,” Marquez told Motorsport.com. “I recommended he visit the doctors who operated on my thumb [in 2023] and my shoulder last winter, and I gave him their contact details.”
Martin duly got in touch with Dr Ignacio Roger de Ona’s team at the Ruber Clinic in Madrid, who advised him to undergo another procedure, this time involving a bone graft from his hip to reinforce the affected collarbone.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
The evidence is visible when Martín lifts his shirt to reveal the two incisions on his lower torso, where the bone material was extracted before being implanted into his collarbone.
“Now my collarbone is stronger than ever,” joked the Madrid-born rider, who chose to keep the surgeries secret while waiting to see whether he would be fit to take part in the first three days of testing in Malaysia in early February. In fact, the 2024 world champion made no mention of the operations during Aprilia’s launch event in Milan a few days earlier.
It was Motorsport.com that revealed after the event that Martín had undergone surgery in December – procedures that ultimately prevented him from riding at Sepang.
This Monday, Martin underwent a final check-up that confirmed he was fit to return to riding a road bike, which he did on Tuesday at the Aspar Circuit in Valencia.
The Spaniard hopes to take part in the second official pre-season test, scheduled for 21-22 February in Thailand – the venue that will host the season opener on 1 March.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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