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Injured Marc Marquez accepts that he ‘can’t go for anything’ at Assen but felt compelled to race, with the Dutch round the final event on the MotoGP calendar before a lengthy summer break.
The Repsol Honda rider withdrew from the German Grand Prix last Sunday after crashing five times over the weekend at the Sachsenring, sustaining rib and thumb fractures in a crash during the warm-up before the main race.
Marquez, who finished down in 17th place in the Assen Sprint encounter, said he was struggling with his fractured rib in the 13-lapper and underscored the pain he was in by stating that his goal for Sunday is to simply ‘finish the race’.
“I made a really good start to the race, I was able to make up a lot of positions in the first lap,” he said.
“Then I settled down a bit and just found my pace, focusing on myself.
“I was suffering a bit more today with the rib, especially in regard to breathing and using the pectoral in the best way.
“I expected not to suffer so much with physical condition, but I was suffering.
“The ankle and the finger is broken, but this was okay, was acceptable. But the rib, on the last sector it’s painful and when I start to breathe more and more, then it’s more pain.
“Then I’m losing a lot of time. So, the only point where I feel more or less okay is sector one because it’s slow corners, and it’s there where I push.
“The goal for tomorrow is to finish the race.”
The Spanish rider also apologised to Ducati’s Enea Bastianini after Marquez ran into the rear of his machine in qualifying, crashing out. It was his second spill of the weekend after he came off in second practice on Friday.
“I also want to apologise to Enea for this morning,” he said. “It was my mistake.”
Explaining his decision to race at Assen despite his injuries, the 30-year-old said he needed to keep riding ‘for the mental side’.
“I didn’t race in Sachsenring because I wasn’t feeling well and I feel pain, and we’re on the bike after four days (at Assen),” said Marquez.
“So, the body recovered a little bit, but still it’s painful. So, I feel a big limitation there, so I cannot go for anything this weekend – I can’t.
“I mean, I’m competing because I then have one month and a half [away during the summer break].
“And with the feeling of Sachsenring, to be two months without being on the bike – believe me this is not the best for a rider.
“So, I need this weekend. For the mental side, I need to keep riding, keep going, and of course when you have difficult moments the motivation is not there.
“But you need to keep your routines, you need to keep the same way to work, you need to keep the same way to believe to change the situation in the future. But at home, the situation will never change.”
