With just over a month before the World Championship kicks off, Marc Márquez will get on the Derbi RSA, on which he will compete in his third season in the World Championship, for the second time this year. After a long winter without being able to ride his factory machine and focusing on physical training, during the weeks running up to the first race physical development and metabolism are checked to ensure that they are within normal parameters, as well as adjusting the machine.
For this reason, the Repsol rider visited the CAR in Sant Cugat –a high performance centre specialised in training international athletes– to undergo a full medical check-up in preparation for a long competition season at just 17 years old.
Making the most of the centre’s facilities, Márquez underwent strength, blood, anthropometric and lung capacity tests, designed for elite athletes, which in the case of a teenager who is still growing are even more important in order to carry out regular follow-up and optimise both training and nutrition.
Two-wheeled activity will resume tomorrow, Monday, when Márquez and his team will start the second test of the year at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo. After the three-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya a week ago, where the rain and low temperatures prevented them from doing all of the work planned, the team will arrive at the Spanish track with the aim of accumulating kilometres and data on the Derbi RSA that Márquez will ride this season.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
“We have just undergone a full medical check-up because before the season starts it’s good to check that everything is OK. You know how you are and you can see that you are fine but they perform tests to make sure that there are no problems and that nothing is amiss. Now, we are thinking about the test in Valencia, in which we will focus on accumulating more kilometres. In the tests at the Circuit de Catalunya, we couldn’t ride a lot and what we need to do is adjust a basic setup of the bike to get a clearer idea of the tuning. Here there will be official practices, there will be more riders and perhaps on the last day, everyone will be out to get a good time, but in pre-season that is not the most important because championship points are not awarded and any incident could compromise the start of the World Championship.”
