Marquez celebrates 27th birthday with motocross return

Marc Marquez says he “couldn’t have been given a better present” on his 27^th birthday than returning to motocross training as he steps up his recovery from shoulder surgery.

The Repsol Honda rider has endured a frustrating winter in rehabilitation from a second shoulder surgery in the space of 12 months having undergone a similar operation on his right shoulder to the one he had on his left shoulder at the end of 2018.

After returning to two wheels for the first time only a week before the Sepang pre-season test, training on a BEON 45 at a local karting track, Marquez completed a limited testing programme in Malaysia to ease himself back into action without causing further problems to his shoulder.

Muchas gracias a todo@s por las felicitaciones! 27 No podía tener mejor regalo que volver a subirme a una moto de MX después de tres meses 
Thanks to everybody for all your birthday wishes! 27  I couldn’t have a better present than ride a MX bike after three months pic.twitter.com/pOmtpH7xCV

— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) February 17, 2020

Having notched up a total of 131 laps over the three-day Sepang test, Marquez has continued his rehabilitation back at home as part of his preparations for the Qatar test later this week (February 22-24).

To celebrate his birthday, Marquez posted his return to motocross training on social media: “Thanks to everybody for all your birthday wishes! 27, I couldn’t have a better present than ride a MX bike after three months.”

Speaking at the end of the Sepang test, Marquez said he expected to ‘suffer’ due to a lack of strength from his shoulder only two months on from a surgery which a regular person would require six months to recover from.

“We did a [muscle] test before coming here and specifically the deltoid muscle is around 60%. But the other muscles are closer to the top,” Marquez said at Sepang.

“It affected [me] a lot. This is one of the more difficult circuits physically and I suffered during these three days. But I need to suffer now if I want to be ready in Qatar.”

Later this week Marquez will head to the Losail International Circuit to take part in the final pre-season test before the Qatar circuit hosts the 2020 MotoGP opening round on March 8.