Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo will miss Saturday's Dutch TT after he broke his left collarbone in a high-speed crash in practice at Assen on Thursday.
Lorenzo posted the fastest time in the dry morning practice session with a superb 1min53.263, ahead of satellite Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow and Honda's red-hot rookie Marc Marquez, but went down hard in the rain-affected afternoon session.
The reigning MotoGP World champion was caught out by standing water on the fastest part of the circuit, the Hoge Heide section running up to Ramshoek just before the Geert Timmer chicane at the end of the lap, and landed heavily on his left shoulder at more than 200km/h.
He was taken to the circuit's medical centre to be stabilised, and then to a Dutch hospital for a CT scan, which confirmed a slightly displaced fracture of the left clavicle.
“I think I was just too confident for the conditions.”
“I went into the corner faster than the previous lap,” Lorenzo said, “and I think I touched a patch of water, or maybe aquaplaned. That made the rear wheel light and it may have touched the white line, making it a lot worse - which is why I crashed.
“I don't have anything against this circuit, it was just bad luck - or in this case, too much confidence.”
Marquez went on to top the second session, but was 14 seconds off Lorenzo's earlier best as the forecast showers struck the historic Dutch venue.
Team doctor Xavier Mir, who is also chief of hand surgery at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona, said Lorenzo would have head and chest scans in Assen as well as abdominal checks.
He said: “Our first diagnosis revealed that there is a left clavicle fracture with a slight shift that will need surgery to repair the bone - but this injury is in the background while we rule out any other major injury that may become apparent within 24 hours.”
IMMEDIATE SURGERY
Lorenzo was flown to Barcelona in a chartered private jet on Thursday night for surgery in the early hours of Friday morning. One of the team of four surgeons who carried out the two-hour procedure, Dr Michele Zasa, said afterwards:
“Jorge sustained a displaced, complex fracture to the third medial of the left collarbone. It's been a challenging operation, but apparently successful. We inserted a titanium plate and eight screws to secure the fragments of the collarbone.
“Jorge has just woken up from the anaesthesia. In the next few hours we will evaluate his progress then we will be able to estimate how long the post-surgery rehabilitation will take.”
The double World champion is second in the 2013 points standings after winning the Catalunya Grand Prix last weekend, seven points behind Honda works rider Dani Pedrosa. This gap is likely to increase after the Dutch TT, where Pedrosa and team mate Marquez will have a clear shot at victory, with only on-form Tech 3 rider Crutchlow likely to stand in their way. - Reuters