Marvin Musquin | Persist & Build

@marvinmusquin25

Prior to the start of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series last weekend at Loretta Lynn’s ranch, it had been nearly a year since we’d seen RedBull KTM’s Marvin Musquin line up for a race. As time passed throughout the 2020 season of racing, speculation grew of whether Marvin was ever returning to racing or if his knee injury had encouraged an early retirement. While the questions surged, Marvin continued to rehab his knee and focus on his return to racing. Perhaps the sole provider to the speculation was the unclear information on the very reason Marvin wasn’t at the races. As far as we knew, Marvin had surgery to repair his knee. And with that bland statement sprouted the assumption of a torn ACL or MCL, a common injury in the sport. It wasn’t until later that the media learned Marvin had undergone a much larger surgery than assumed, a surgery where they repaired three separate ligaments in the knee, thereby being the catalyst to the long recovery process. 

With the large surgery now behind Marvin, he is back on track and has now shown the industry that he’s still a force to be reckoned with. After a solid result at the opening round of the outdoors, Marvin looks forward to improving every weekend and getting back to his race-winning ways. We caught up with the Frenchman after some motos at Lake Elsinore Mx Park for a little interview…

First off, it’s good to see you back on the bike and at the races. I think a lot of people don’t understand the extent of your injury, it wasn’t just a torn ACL…

– Yeah, I mean I’ve had my ACL done on my right knee and was back on the bike after just three months. This injury has been a lot different, though. My Surgeon, who specializes in knees in France, told me if I repair those three ligaments in my knee I’ll have to be on crutches for six weeks, but I had no choice but to go through with the surgery. It was hard to accept it but I really had no choice, so I had the surgery done. It was a long recovery, but I’m happy to be back on my bike and back at the races. It wasn’t just a one ligament repair, it was a big surgery. 

It seemed like I saw you cycling quite a bit, how much were you able to exercise during the recovery?

– Well, to be honest, it was all about rehab and cardio strength. Man, it was hard on its own. And then the pandemic happened and I was no longer able to have my physio come over. I wish I could have had a little more work done with them but Aldon stepped in and helped me with some good exercises. Obviously, the outdoor season being pushed back helped me rehab for that much longer before going to the races. It would not have been safe for me to go out and race had the outdoor season started when it was initially supposed to. The last two weeks have been really awesome, as the whole team came out to Florida to do some testing and I really started to feel good again.

Your first race back is in the books. Are you where you expected and wanted to be?

– I went into round one at Loretta Lynn’s feeling really good on the bike, which was exciting. Yeah, we can make some progress, but I actually felt competitive even though my first few laps weren’t great. I made some mistakes in the first few corners and really lost some good positions. But, I wasn’t the only guy struggling. I mean, I got around Eli on my first race back. The track is the same for everyone and I was able to make some good passes and come back to fourth place. I wish I would have done a little better in the second moto and gotten on the podium, but I ran out of gas a little at the end of the moto. I think we can do better this coming weekend with some adjustments on the bike settings after having some experience on that track. 

During your downtime, one of the things you kept busy with was helping promote the Custom Uplifts Brian Moreau trailer giveaway…

– Yeah, it’s important. Brian Moreau unfortunately had a big injury and can’t be racing with us anymore. He’s back in France trying to regain feeling and motion in his legs, and as you can imagine, it’s been super tough for him. He was staying with us prior to the accident, and it’s hard to see a young kid chasing his dream just like I did get hurt like that. The trailer giveaway that they did to support Brian was super awesome to see. Road to Recovery has done such an amazing job for a list of riders that have been injured and it’s hard to imagine what these situations would be like without them now. Unfortunately, I saw that Tevin Tapia recently got hurt so we are trying to promote the Road to Recovery for him as well. 

Had you heard stories about Loretta Lynn’s as you were coming through the ranks? Was it cool to finally be there?

– Yeah, of course. Yeah, we raced there, but it’s not like we were there for the amateur races. I think the amateur race week is really something special so it was cool to be there, but yeah I heard about Lorettas when I was younger. We really wanted to go race when I was on Supermini’s but it didn’t work out. My first time in America was on a 250 in 2006, so it was a little later when I finally came over to America.

What are your goals for this season?

– As I said, I’m glad to be back and be competitive. The goal is to just keep improving every round, battle with those top guys, and get on that podium.