Ducati confirm Marc Marquez out of Grand Prix France and Grand Prix Catalunya after nasty Sprint crash causes foot fracture
Updated 09/05/2026 at 18:30 GMT+1
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Marc Marquez will miss Grand Prix France on Sunday and next week’s Grand Prix Catalunya through injury following a serious crash during Saturday's Sprint race in Le Mans.
Highlights: Martin wins Grand Prix France Sprint as Marquez suffers costly crash
Video credit: TNT Sports
The Ducati Lenovo rider was in seventh place in the Sprint race at Le Mans after dropping down from second spot on the grid.
But a huge high-side wobble threw the 33-year-old world champion from his bike and he narrowly avoided the machine when tumbling at pace through the gravel.
Marquez was in some discomfort as he limped away from the crash and rode back to the paddock, with Jorge Martin winning on the day.
From there he went for medical checks at the track’s facilities and avoided putting weight on his right foot.
His team have confirmed a fracture to the foot, meaning he will miss Sunday’s full-length race, and all the action next week in Spain.
A statement from Ducati confirmed: ”Following the crash during the Sprint at [the] French GP and after a medical check and X-ray, Marc was declared unfit with a fifth metatarsal fracture in his right foot.
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Martin proud of 'amazing job' after Grand Prix France Sprint race
Video credit: TNT Sports
”He will fly to Madrid this night to undergo surgery. He will not participate in [the] Catalan GP next week. We will send you more info as soon as we can.”
Marquez had already been struggling for full fitness from the start of the 2026 MotoGP campaign.
A shoulder injury sustained last October at Grand Prix Indonesia ended his season prematurely, though he was already world champion for the seventh time by then.
He has been open that he is not yet at his best following the surgery required on that problem, with TNT Sports pundit Neil Hodgson suggesting he might walk away from the sport if he does not return to his best.
His colleague, Sylvain Guintoli, believed that the sheer number of crashes that Marquez has had over the course of his long career could now be taking its toll, while Michael Laverty thought he was not close to the best of his ability.
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'It's massive!' - Marc Marquez suffers huge crash at Grand Prix France Sprint race
Video credit: TNT Sports
The Spaniard has two Sprint wins this season but no Sunday podiums and he has already failed to finish two full-length Grands Prix this season, meaning he has slipped down the race for the title early on in the 2026 season, despite ending last term as the format’s dominant champion.
He is now 51 points behind Aprilia’s championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi, whose main rival appears to be his team-mate Martin, the Sprint race’s winner.
That gap looks set to increase when he misses this Sunday’s event and all of next weekend’s racing.
Marquez’s Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, however, was praised for his ride on Saturday, which garnered second place, and the Italian former world champion is first on the grid after successful qualifying earlier in the weekend.
Speaking to DAZN after the race, Marquez revealed that he had already planned to have shoulder surgery to remove a screw.
”That was one of the reasons I was taking it easy,” he told the broadcaster. ”I knew I could crash at any moment. I already had surgery scheduled for after Catalunya, on my right shoulder. After Jerez, I realised something wasn’t right.
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”We went to see the doctors and they found that everything was fine but that the infamous broken screw - the one in the lateral ligament - was in a different position.
”It was a very strange feeling because, at home, I felt fine. But when I came here, it prevented me from riding because it was touching the radial nerve.
”That’s what causes me to make mistakes, be inconsistent and have unexpected crashes.
”That’s why I was so calm. We’ll do it all at once. The shoulder procedure is simply opening it up and removing that screw. The recovery time should be short.”
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