He was a winner again only a few days ago but Marc Marquez has been brought down to earth with a bump - literally - in spectacular circumstances during free practice for the Dutch TT.
The Spaniard suffered a huge crash from his Repsol Honda, caused when the rear of the RC213V snapped out and the rubber bit again, flicking him into a massive high-side that chucked him clear of the bike.
Part crash, part gymnastics vault combination, Marquez came down hard face first before bouncing and rolling through the gravel trap at speed, his Honda skating behind him as it sparked across the floor.
Incredibly, despite speed and ferocity of the impact - and considering the shoulder and arm injuries that ruled him out of action for ten months - Marquez could get back onto his feet and take himself to the medical centre, albeit limping.
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Since then he has taken to social media to say he is ‘unscathed’ and ‘lucky’, before hinting the accident may have been caused by a mechanical issue.
“I feel lucky to get out unscathed from a fall like this. I’ve felt pretty good overall and at that point I wasn’t expecting to fall, because in MotoGP [we have] electronics for those kinds of falls. We are working with the engineers to avoid those high-sides.”
The incident comes just days after Marquez scored his first win since 2019 - and his first since his return from injury - in the German MotoGP at the Sachsenring, his 11th GP win around the Saxony circuit.
