Reigning MotoGP World Champion and 2019 title favourite Marc Marquez has admitted he won't be back to full fitness until the Argentina round.

Marquez took it relatively easy at the Sepang test as his recently-operated shoulder is still problematic but hopes he won't be in too much discomfort at the Sepang season opener early next month

"I will be not very close to 100 per cent, but I think Qatar will not be a big problem. Still I have one month in front [of me], so I will try to work hard still. I have a test in Qatar, then it’s Qatar, then three weeks more to Argentina," said the Repsol Honda man

"This is my target, to arrive in Argentina 100 percent. I need to wait. Now if I want, I can keep riding, with pain. But if I have a big inflammation, it gets worse and worse and I lose one week of my recovery. So I need to follow my body; when I feel more pain than normal, I stop."

After more than 20 crashes last year, Marquez wasn't pushing his RC213V as hard as he might usually but pointed to a brace of spills from Cal Crutchlow which indicated the front-end of the bike is still a problem area.

"Of course we are working also on this area, but this test I wasn't concentrated on this area because I wasn't pushing like always. I didn't have any saves, any moments, I was always smooth.

"This is not normal for me, but Cal crashed two or three times, and still it looks like a critical point but we will see."