The MotoGP World Champion had an operation to repair his fractured right tibia, sustained in a crash in the Saturday practice session at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello.

Valentino Rossi underwent a successful operation at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico (Centre for Orthopaedic Trauma) in Florence, Italy on Saturday afternoon to repair the fractured right tibia he sustained in a crash in the Saturday-morning practice session at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM.


Rossi was thrown from his Fiat Yamaha M1 bike as he went through Turn 13, with the temperature of his tyres having been cited as a likely factor in his highside crash. Doctor Roberto Buzzi of the CTO performed the surgery, assisted by Doctor Claudio Costa of the Clinica Mobile, in a two-and-a-half hour procedure that went according to plan.

"We received Valentino Rossi at the Careggi Hospital, where we made detailed checks in order to rule out any other injuries, and the results were satisfactory,” explained Doctor Buzzi in a post-operation statement. “We therefore decided to proceed with the surgery for the exposed fracture of the right leg. We performed a spinal block (epidural) and cleaned and washed the fracture, which was then aligned and stabilised with a pin. The surgery had good results; the alignment was good and the bone is now stable. The wound remains open, as is usual in these cases, and it will be stitched in the next few days with another short surgery. We are confident that Valentino will be able to leave the hospital in a week to ten days, able to put weight on the leg with the aid of crutches.”

Doctor Buzzi continued: "It is difficult to say how long the post surgery rehabilitation will take, we need to evaluate the progress of the patient and also what the X-rays will show. But I think that we can reasonably think of six weeks of partial weight-bearing with crutches, after which Valentino needs to be re-evaluated, according to his feedback and further x-rays."

Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis added: "It was a very sad day today for Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team, seeing Vale in so much pain and seriously injured for the first time in his career. It is especially tough for Vale to have this accident at his home Grand Prix and this will surely be a huge disappointment for him and for all his fans here at the Mugello circuit and around the world. As a team we are very deflated right now because we had our two riders challenging for the Championship lead and now that challenge is over - at least for the immediate future. We wish Vale the very best for a speedy recovery and hope to have him back with us as soon as possible."


You can see the moment of the unfortunate crash by clicking here.