Overview
- Ducati confirmed Marc Marquez will not race in Barcelona and said it will not field a stand-in, leaving Francesco Bagnaia as the team’s only factory rider.
- Doctors performed combined procedures on Marquez’s right foot and right shoulder after his Le Mans sprint crash, removing two screws and a bone fragment that had been compressing his radial nerve.
- Team and medical reports say a bent screw from a 2019 operation had been touching the radial nerve during certain riding positions, causing brief losses of strength in his right arm and fingers.
- In Ducati’s Inside Ducati video, a tearful Marquez told the team he had been “riding with one and a half arms” and estimated the issue was costing roughly half a second per lap.
- No firm return date was given, with hopes mentioned for the Italian GP at Mugello, and Ducati noted it is not required to use a substitute for a single missed round though it would be if the absence extends.