MotoGP’s Espargaro brothers both underwent the knife this week following the Le Mans race, but for very different reasons.
Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki Ecstar) managed to mash up his right hand when he crashed in last Sunday’s race. He wasted no time in getting to surgery. According to his surgeon he had “an operation on his right thumb with the removal of the ulnar collateral ligament, proceeding to reinsertion of the ligament and a 2mm intraligamentary suture anchor.” Translation: The doctor patched up his thumb.
Aleix spent overnight in hospital, and is now recovering at home. Obviously he’s hoping to be back in action by the Mugello race at the month’s end, but he’s going to have his recuperation re-evaluated before then to judge if he’s fit.
Aleix’s brother Pol (who has a slight lead in the standings, with 35 points to Aleix’s 31 points) had surgery earlier this week as well, for compartment syndrome (or as it’s more commonly known, arm pump).
The Yamaha Tech3 rider said he’d been experiencing discomfort after races this season; he’d had some symptoms before, but it became obvious there was a problem following the Jerez race. Then, he said at Le Mans “It was even worse because I struggled very early in the race being nearly unable to ride the bike. ”
Following Le Mans, Pol say a physical therapist, who confirmed his suspicions, sending him to a specialist to perform the surgery.
Pol, like Aleix, wants to get back in action for the Mugello race on May 31. However, recovery time might torpedo that plan. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa has only just returned to action after undergoing surgery for arm pump following the MotoGP opener in Qatar. The Honda team was playing it cautious, wanting to make sure Pedrosa healed completely before throwing him on-track again. If Tech3 follows that route, Pol’s brother may get past him in the points race.
