Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez will head to the United States instead of the Catalunya GP next week in a bid to recover fitness in his right shoulder.

The eight-time world champion will undergo further surgery on his damaged arm at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, following the 2020 Jerez accident that kept him off the RC213V for nine months. With his rehabilitation facing further set backs due to infection and reduced mobility over the past two seasons.

The Spaniard explained his continuing suffering is leading to ongoing injuries with the new surgery aiming to correct the rotation impairment in a bid to return to his former glory as he remains under contract with the Repsol Honda team for a further two seasons.

“I will have surgery next week,” Marquez confirmed from Mugello on Saturday. “Since I had the first injury in my right arm, everything was really, really complicated, plus the infection was the worst thing.

“My doctor did an amazing job 18 months ago trying to take care about that infection and just to recover my bone and was a success but it’s true that after that period, since I come back riding the bike, I feel a big limitations. Even like this, I never give up, I just keep pushing, keep working. Doing what the doctors say.

“I realise this season that I’m not enjoying, I’m just suffering a lot, a lot of pain. I don’t have power. I cannot ride like I want. I start to injure the left shoulder because I’m pushing too much with the left arm.

“My performance is not bad, but it’s not the one that I want so together with Dr. Samuel Antuña and Dr. Angel Cotorro we evaluate, already long time ago. In October when I have the first injury with my vision, I say to them, ‘why we don’t consider to make something in the arm’ but was not fixed completely the bone and they say ‘the risk is too big’. And the first thing is myself. So is there where just I keep calm.

“Then I come back. I work a lot during these four months but I don’t see any improvement. Then I had another meeting with them after Jerez where we evaluate again, everything. Then they start to consider another operation. Is true that was difficult and I did all what was in my hands to avoid that operation because open again the arm is something that I don’t want but is the way to recover.

“One of the best things is that the problem is clear, is a very big rotation in the arm and as you see, my riding style is not the same one. Not because the bike, is because me. My right arm even in the left corner is not a natural position but even like this I was able to win races so for that reason this year, I tried to get the chance. After that meeting they analysed deeply and they saw that the rotation was very big. They told me that this surgery you must do in Clinica Mayo with Dr. Joaquin Sánchez Sotelo because he believes that is the best in the world. This doctor already visited me last October.

“Looks like a nightmare but I believe that soon I will come back. Will be hard. I don’t know the time. But the moment to do is now because for them is no doubt. There is a problem, the rotation is too big. We will see if we can come back soon but no rush.”

While rumours had circulated in recent weeks of the Spaniard’s impending surgery, he had previously denied them.

”The doctor at Clinica Mayo was printing my bones in 3D, just to evaluate exactly which was the rotation,” he explained. “At 12 o’clock yesterday he called me and say, ‘no doubt, come! It’s not necessary two inches more, the rotation is too big. I don’t know what you’re doing but you are doing so come here and we will fix.’”

When asked about his return, Marquez was unsure but aware that it will not be quick.

“No, I don’t have any idea,” he admitted on his recuperation period. “Because the doctor said to me after surgery, we will go step by step but it will be a long time, of course.

“The way to do now is because for me is no way to ride like this. I’m suffering too much, I’m not enjoying and every weekend is a nightmare, just to keep pushing. But it’s true that my goal is the same one, and is comeback. The way to do now is just to prepare the 2023.

“I want to say thanks to Honda because they respect a lot the decision and they believe also and they support me a lot but we will see. Riding like this, I have some ups and downs, I know that I can be on the podium in some circuits but it’s not the way that I want to ride because I’m suffering a lot and I create other injuries. I cannot continue riding like this.”

Marquez’ strength in recent years has often been commented on, with both physical limitations and complications with his eyesight to contend with over the past two years.

“Always one of my strong points is just be really strong on the mind and believe me that if I don’t have this character, during this time, I just give up,” he confessed. “But if you want something you need to push, you need to believe on it and you need to keep pushing.

“Many people doesn’t understand the situation and speak, say bullshit, but I know what I have and I know what are my limitations, and I know which are my skills. Now I cannot take profit so for that reason, you will understand a little bit more now my quotes in the last races, because I felt the limitations since preseason, but then in Portimao, in Jerez, in Jerez test I just was able to do 20 laps again. I didn’t feel any improvement so just like, keep going, keep going, keep going.

“If you want something you need to go ahead. Just forget the people, just be around the people that believe in you, like Honda, like my team and my sponsors and it’s what I will do.

“Doing now in the middle of the season is not the best way, of course but is the best way for myself to the future. This is what I believe and is what we will do because the doctors also say to me ‘Please stop and come!’”