Ducati’s Andrea Iannone has been declared fit to ride at the Aragon MotoGP round this weekend after he got the green light came from the circuit medical Officer but says he will only race on Sunday if he is competitive through practice and qualifying.
Tomorrow morning Iannone will be back on track to test his physical condition following a high-speed crash during first practice at Misano. The fracture of the third thoracic vertebra is still not healed, but Iannone is determined to test if he can ride, despite the pain. bikesportnews.com spoke to him at the track:
First of all, how do you feel?
“Every day is getting better, but I need to understand if I can have the strength for a whole race weekend. If I think at my everyday life like walking or standing up from a chair, I can say that I’m fine. If you ask me to carry a load, a case of battles of water, I cannot make it. I have a lot of pain in the spot where the vertebra is fractured. I’m always very positive and I think I can make it, but I need to be intelligent and to understand the limits, if I have some. Tomorrow morning I need to understand if the pain is bearable and above all if I can be competitive. I want to race only if I can be competitive, otherwise there is no meaning for me to return on track this weekend and take additional risks”.
Do you think that a single session of practice is enough to understand or would you need more time?
“I think I will have a clearer idea of my physical condition after a couple of turns. The pain is there. The fracture is there. I need to understand how I feel on the bike. After Misano i took painkillers for six days in a row. Then I have stopped. The doctors said that we need to give the bone time to calcify.”
Do you have some regrets regarding Misano?
“I wanted to try already in Misano to understand how I felt, which were my limits and how I could handle the future steps, although I would have probably not raced. But Anyway, I prefer to look forward to this weekend, instead of thinking at the past”.
Have you had the chance to jump on the bike these days or you just did some physiotherapy?
“I didn’t ride a bike, because you cannot simulate how is riding a MotoGP”.
Andrea Iannone is ready and determined to test. In case the verdict oat the track is negative, Ducati has prepared a plan B. Test Michele Pirro is on his way and will arrive this evening at Aragon in case it’s necessary to replace the Number 29 as happened in Misano.