"I said when I went to the doctors, 'Let me know if we have a solution. If not, I will retire.'"
These are the words of Marc Márquez to ESPN in 2023, when he was a six-time MotoGP world champion, about the arm injury that nearly ended his career. His brother, who is on course to finish runner-up in the 2025 MotoGP championship, Alex Márquez, thought that his older sibling would retire during the two-year period he spent searching for a cure for his fractured, infected and malrotated humerus.
Now, 2,185 days, four complicated surgeries, two teams and one manufacturer later, Marc Márquez is a seven-time MotoGP world champion, having clinched this year's crown at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.