French GP: Jorge Martin leads Warm Up, Marc Marquez undergoes surgery today

Martin tops the final pre-race session, with rain risk in the afternoon at Le Mans. Ducati confirms that Marquez will be in the operating room today.

The MotoGP Warm Up for the 2026 French Grand Prix is in the books, the last chance for teams to fine-tune ahead of the afternoon’s long race. Ten minutes that at Le Mans might end up counting for little if the riders find themselves racing on a wet track later on. The forecast calls for rain. This morning ran dry, and there were bike change drills to prepare for any eventuality.

The fastest time was set by Jorge Martin, Saturday’s Sprint winner. Behind him were Alex Marquez and Raul Fernandez. The top 5 was rounded out by Diogo Moreira and Fabio Di Giannantonio. Piero Taramasso, Michelin’s motorsport manager, explained to Sky Sport MotoGP that in case of rain it’s recommended to use the soft rain rear tire, because it offers more grip and warms up well, while for the front you can choose between soft and medium depending on the rider’s style.

Remember that Marc Marquez left Le Mans last night following the injury suffered at the end of the penultimate lap of the MotoGP sprint race. The Ducati Lenovo Team rider crashed at Turn 13 and sustained a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which is why he must undergo surgery and will also miss the Catalan Grand Prix scheduled for next weekend.

As explained by the nine-time world champion (HERE his statements), his right shoulder isn’t right either and he will take the opportunity to remove an old screw that, touching the radial nerve, made his riding more complicated. The operation was already planned and would have been done after the GP in Barcelona, but the injury picked up in France will move everything forward. As officially communicated by Ducati, Marquez will undergo surgery today in Madrid. His hope is to recover in time for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello on the weekend of May 29–31.

Team manager Davide Tardozzi, speaking to Sky Sport MotoGP, explained that Marc is already in the operating room this morning and that in Catalunya there will be no substitute on his Desmosedici GP26. Even though the rider had suggested that the shoulder operation wasn’t anything complicated, Tardozzi revealed an important point: "It’s not true that this is an easy operation, because it involves the median nerve, and only during the surgery will they find out how to fix it. It’s not exactly straightforward. They have to determine how to make sure the nerve won’t cause problems in the future. If there’s a small difficulty, it’s precisely sorting out the nerve."