Martin mulling surgery as arm pump ruins Misano race

Erstwhile MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin has revealed arm pump was the cause of his San Marino Grand Prix slump - and intends to have surgery during his title campaign.

Martin led the Misano race in the early going after the crash for his Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, but his performance dipped suddenly after taking the lead, as low-to-mid 1m31s laps became high-1m31s laps and then he settled into the 1m32s range.

He tumbled to fifth, which meant that Marc Marquez has drawn level on points with Martin coming out of Misano and leads the championship on countback.

"I'm really happy about my performance in the first half of the race," Martin told British broadcaster TNT. 

"Looking back to Friday and all the struggles that I had, and today overtaking Marc for the lead, was super nice. I think we have to be proud of the job of the team.

"For sure I think we lost a big opportunity today. I had a chance to win, I think. But I was struggling with arm pump, I couldn't brake anymore, I was completely out of control of my bike. I was just waiting till the race finished."

Martin said he had had an issue since Friday this weekend - and that he never encountered it in past Misano MotoGP rounds. He said he now faces a "question mark" for the end of the season.

Compartment syndrome, known colloquially as arm pump, is a frequent bugbear of the modern MotoGP rider, referring to a build-up of pressure in the muscles that compromises blood and oxygen flow.

Martin had already undergone one operation to alleviate arm pump back in 2019, when he was just starting his Moto2 career, and he was able to have the operation without missing any races.

This is a conventional outcome - but it does not mean a rider won't remain compromised in some capacity, and both the two upcoming rounds - Red Bull Ring pre-surgery and Motegi potentially post-surgery - are potential candidates to expose arm fitness issues.

"Now I don't have enough time to do anything for Austria so I'm just trying to recover. I think, honestly, Austria is not a race where I will suffer from arm pump - but looking towards the end of the season, we need to understand if it's better to undergo surgery after Austria or not."