Marc Marquez will miss both the French Grand Prix on Sunday and next weekend's Catalan Grand Prix after fracturing his right foot in a violent sprint crash at Le Mans, Ducati has confirmed.
The reigning MotoGP world champion was thrown clear of his Desmosedici GP26 on the penultimate lap of the sprint at the Recordement corner, suffering a fifth metatarsal fracture in his right foot when he landed on the asphalt. He was visibly limping when he reached the paddock and was unable to put any weight on the foot at the Ducati box.
In the team's official communication on Saturday evening, Ducati stated: "Following the crash during the sprint at French GP and after a medical check and x-ray, Marc was declared unfit with a fifth metatarsal fracture in his right foot. He will fly to Madrid tonight to undergo surgery."
Marquez used official MotoGP channels to deliver his own brief assessment, framing the timing as oddly fortunate given a longer-running shoulder issue.
"It's not a big injury, but it came at the correct time," he said.
That reference to timing matters. Marquez has confirmed that he will undergo a second operation on his right shoulder in the same trip, removing a damaged screw that has been pressing on a nerve since his collision with Marco Bezzecchi at the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix. The shoulder surgery had been provisionally scheduled for after the Catalan round. The Le Mans foot injury has now forced both procedures together.
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi had hinted at the underlying problem before the French weekend, telling reporters that Marquez was simply not himself.
"If you ask me for a percentage, I can't say, but I'm sure he's not in good shape," Tardozzi said. "Unfortunately, what happened in Indonesia is still having consequences. He's not back to normal yet."
The latest news confirms what Tardozzi has been signalling for weeks. Marquez has been racing the entire 2026 season with a damaged shoulder screw and recurring nerve discomfort, while also crashing heavily in Austin, Jerez and now Le Mans. That he set a new all-time Le Mans lap record on Friday, only to crash out of second place in the sprint, captures the sharp edge he has been riding.
The championship implications are stark. Marquez was 44 points behind Bezzecchi heading into Le Mans and saw that gap balloon to 51 points after losing the sprint. Two missed weekends could easily push the deficit beyond 100 points by the time he returns. Marquez has already conceded that he is no longer realistically chasing the title, and Saturday's news effectively confirms it.
For Ducati, the loss of Marquez creates a strategic problem on top of a sporting one. The development direction of the GP26 has been heavily influenced by his feedback on front-end feel and corner entry, and the factory had been positioning him as their lead championship contender. Pecco Bagnaia, who took pole at Le Mans on Saturday, now becomes the de facto factory standard bearer for at least two race weekends.
Whether Ducati introduce a substitute rider, with Michele Pirro the obvious candidate, for Le Mans Sunday and Barcelona remains to be confirmed. What is no longer in doubt is that Marquez's 2026 title defence has effectively been suspended, and that the next time he climbs onto a MotoGP machine will be after surgery on both a fractured foot and the shoulder that has shadowed him for more than seven months.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/marc-marquez-miss-french-catalan-gp-foot-shoulder-surgery-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
