Jorge Martin pulling out of the first 2026 pre-season MotoGP test came out of the blue given he had made no mention of any fitness concerns at Aprilia’s team launch just a few weeks earlier.
He’d even already returned to racing at last season’s final round having seemingly fully recovered from his latest injury.
The 2024 world champion still attended this week’s Sepang test with his Aprilia team despite not taking part, and he spoke to the media for the first time since confirming that he has been forced to undergo yet more surgery.
Martin first conceded only late last week that he was set to miss out the Sepang test, where his injury woes started 12 months ago, after finally admitting that he had remained silent during the team’s presentation about the two further surgical procedures he had undergone to fix issues with both the wrist and collarbone he broke at the Japanese Grand Prix last October. He had crashed out on the opening lap of the sprint race at Motegi, taking team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.
Martin was able to return to action in time for the final round (and its important post-race test) at Valencia six weeks later - but explained at Sepang that it was only in the days afterwards he realised that the bone still hadn’t healed properly.
“After the Valencia race, I was more or less feeling good,” he said, “but a few days after I started to have a lot of pain in the hand and in the collarbone, in my normal life at home.
“I realised then that I had to go to a second opinion about my injuries and I was right - I had to undergo surgery again. Some of the bones were not healed.
“I had surgery as soon as possible, although for sure there were some days of doubt after all that I have been through.
“To go for surgery again was really tough, but it was the best thing for my future and to finally be at my 100%, because I think through all of 2025 I was never at 100%, all season. It’s a pity, but finally I have closed that state and now I am finally on my way to 100%.”
And while the decision to go under the knife was shrouded in secrecy, he insists that, after a year where he’s openly spoken about his struggles with both his physical and mental health, that keeping quiet was what he needed to do to best prepare himself for his return to action as soon as possible.
“We didn’t still know if I would be able to be here,” Martin added, “so we didn’t want to put all the noise on the injury.
“After six injuries in 2025, I wanted to be relaxed at home even if I was recovering again. I didn’t want a lot of people calling me.
“We left it until the last moment to decide if I would be able to come or not, finally I didn’t, and that’s why we said last week.”
Requiring extensive surgery on his wrist in particular, with a bone transplant from his pelvis needed to finally repair the scaphoid fracture, Martin believes he can now finally start the season fully fit - just not quite yet.
“My target now is to be at the Buriram test [in a fortnight],” he said. “We were a bit on the limit to be here, but finally the doctors said that it was better to wait.
“I will have another check on Monday, and if everything is OK I will start riding motorbikes in Spain before heading to Thailand for the test. That is the target, to have some feedback from the new Aprilia, because if not it will be a bit repeating the season of last year.
“Maybe the wrist is a bit slower. I did the surgery on it two weeks earlier than the collarbone, but the collarbone feels fantastic and the strength is getting there.
“The hand is now consolidated 100%, but the problem is that I have to now gain a bit of strength and mobility. I think I will be at 100% soon, so I am relaxed about it.
“They took some other bone from another part of the body to make the bone heal, and now the plate is much bigger and I have more screws. There is no way it can move. But the recovery process was much better, too.
“The last time I had surgery, I was moving after two days - and this time I was four weeks without moving. The timing of the recovery was much more normal.”
