P132
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
M
otoGP's back. The Euro-
pean spring is back. The
latest revised calendar
is back. Testing has begun at
Qatar. And the groundswell is,
well, swelling.
It is (to coin a phrase much
beloved of sports TV commen-
tators) the greatest comeback
since Lazarus.
I was hoping to reserve this
favored source of cliche for the
return of Marc Marquez, for
when he jumps straight back
onto his orange Honda and wins
the first five races going away,
leaving the rest of them with
eyes like saucers. But this may
be a dream too far, not only that
he will be straight back to domi-
nation, but even that he'll be on
the bike at all.
Word from Qatar is Marc might
miss the first two GPs in the
desert, only returning for Jerez's
round three mid-April. Makes
sense, given it's been less than
three months since his last arm-
open/new-plate surgery, the
third attempt to fix his snapped
funny-bone.
On Friday, March 12, came
the latest medical bulletin, that
14 weeks after the last surgery,
he had been given the go-ahead
"to intensify his strength and
mobility recovery program." This
underlines the fact that he's not
just starting again in regaining
lost bone and muscle strength
but is starting again from having
already slipped back six months,
over the course of the previous
failed surgeries.
Lazarus jokes (it is a rich
seam) will have to wait.
Instead, we turn our mind to
testing, which ran over six days
MOTOGP
IS BACK,
AND LAZARUS
IS ON HOLD
The process of testing is obviously
vital for riders getting their lock-down-
sluggish reflexes back up to speed.
