Aprilia's Jorge Martin is a world champion. He's done the thing. He's won a MotoGP championship. He's won races upon races. He will forever be a world champion, up there with the likes of Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, Kenny Roberts Jr, Casey Stoner, and Jorge Lorenzo.
Again, he's done the thing and secured his legacy. But it's at risk from the man himself.
Since Martin's title, he's been plagued by injuries. He's gone in for surgery after surgery. He's missed countless races and tests, and damn-well missed almost the entirety of last season. Martin then went on to launch a crusade against his own team, Aprilia, after basically not touching the motorcycle for most of the year, and talking shit about its engineering. Meanwhile, his teammate Bezzecchi showed the team the way and how it was actually a good bike.
Martin has become his own worst enemy, something that's likely to continue going forward. I get that this will be hard to hear from someone as good at what he does as he, but it's time for him to retire from MotoGP and keep that legacy and championship longevity safe.
My consternation with the champion comes after he missed out on initial testing for the start of the 2026 season, because of another surgery after another injury. This, unfortunately for Martin, has become his pattern. Basically, he has a surgery to fix himself after a bad crash, wreck, or bicycle accident, heals, comes back, and then crashes again. That, inevitably, puts him out for even more time.
During the 2025 season, Martin missed 15 of the 22 races. And he retired in two of those races. His best finish, however, was fourth, which ain't bad. But the rest were in the back of the pack, with him finishing the season in a lowly 21st overall. That's not sustainable, and it does not only a disservice to his own history, but also for Aprilia and the young riders waiting for a seat themselves in the big leagues.
The latest setback is in the form of surgery to his collarbone and scapula, to which he recently had surgery on. Apparently, he's now ready to ride again, but the racer is said to have asked Marc Marquez for advice on the matter, as well as for a doctor's recommendation, during the winter. According to our siblings at Motorsport, "Jorge called me at the end of the season to ask for advice," Marquez told the outlet, adding, "I recommended he visit the doctors who operated on my thumb [in 2023] and my shoulder last winter, and I gave him their contact details." But the basic details around the call state that Martin was in a heck of a lot of pain from his crash in Japan, which forced him to call up Marquez.
His surgery supposedly went well, with MotoGP's doctors clearing him for riding, but strictly on road bikes for now. So he's still not ready or healed enough to ride the 2026 Aprilia challenger. And, honestly, that's OK, because, as I said, he should just call it quits. I mean, my guy, what's left for you to prove other than killing yourself? You're put together with spit and bubblegum and you're running out of bubblegum. It's time to retire, pass the baton, and give someone else a chance.
Become like Rossi, buy a team, manage it, and go race in a car already. If you don't, your championship will be tarnished by your arrogance to continue. Martin was a champion, but he couldn't let it go.
