Marc Marquez’ MotoGP comeback was short-lived at Motorland Aragon after the Repsol Honda endured a dramatic opening lap.

A lightning start from 13th on the grid for his first race premier class race since late May, following surgery to his right humerus, saw Marquez sixth by turn two before the promising launch was quickly derailed. A rear end slide at turn three caused contact with Fabio Quartararo - the Frenchman launched skywards and suffering friction burns on his chest but otherwise unhurt.

The collision in turn left a piece of the Yamaha lodged in the rear end of Marquez’s Honda causing a subsequent mechanical issue and contact with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami. As a result, Marquez retired the RC213V into the pits at the end of the first lap.

“I got a really good start to the race and found myself fighting for the top five, instincts took over when the lights went out,” the eight-time world champion said on his first race start back from injury. “But then in turn three, I lost the rear a little bit so I closed the gas and the problem was then that Fabio was super close to me.

“This is normal, it’s racing, to be close in the first laps and to try a move in the change of direction, we were just unlucky to have this contact with Fabio. Then everything started, in turn five I felt something strange, and I didn’t really know what was going on fully.

"In turn seven Nakagami overtook me and went wide but when I went to engage the rear device, I felt like the rear was locking.

“Then everything happened at once as the bike was moving to the left with this locking and I found myself touching with Taka. After this I retired. I went to apologies to Taka and his team because his race was ended by the situation we had. My apologies to him and Fabio.”