As reported in the new issue of Bikesport News, Loris Baz’s vaunted move to the Aspar Honda MotoGP squad looks to have stalled because he is too tall to fit on the little RCV1000R production bike.

The team have already had to make quite a few alterations to the bike to fold the 6ft2in frame of Leon Camier on to it and Baz is another three inches taller than the former British Superbike Champion with a larger proportiin of it from the waist up, which would place his chin firmly on the dash...

Team spokesman and former rider Gino Borsoi has said that trying to make the bike fit Baz would prove to be incredibly difficult and would necessitate measures like re-routing the exhaust, adjusting the frame and making new bodywork, which Honda would probably be reluctant to do for one rider.

It means that Baz is now a World Superbike rider again for 2015. The question is where as his spot at Kawasaki was earmarked for Jonathan Rea. It is known the Frenchman and Tom Sykes don’t get on but is it better the devil you know for the reigning and champion-elect?