2010 has been a tough year in MotoGP for Valentino Rossi. The nine-time World Champion's season got off to a strong start with a victory at Qatar, but it's been very hard going ever since: a shoulder injury suffered in a training crash, followed by his huge highside in which Rossi broke his tibia and fibula at Mugello. The injuries have left Rossi with just a single win during the 2010 season, his worst start to a season since the Italian moved to the premier class in 2000.
The spectacular and painful nature of Rossi's leg injury has drawn much of the media attention, but the shinbones have not been Rossi's biggest problem. The main factor holding Rossi back throughout the season has been his injured shoulder, which has prevented Rossi from riding as naturally as normal. Rossi suffered the shoulder injury while riding a motocross bike during training. In the crash, he damaged the glenoid ligament, which helps support the shoulder and keeps the ball of the shoulder in place. This is one of the most difficult shoulder injuries for a motorcycle racer to suffer, as the injury makes the shoulder both extremely painful and very weak and instable, and Rossi has suffered badly with not being able to ride as naturally as he would like.
At the time of the injury - just before the canceled Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi - Rossi decided against surgery to correct the problem, as the Italian was afraid of losing too much time recovering from an operation. Rossi was determined to fight on for the championship, but the leg he then broke at Mugello put an end to any title aspirations he may have had.
With Rossi's shoulder injury still causing him some pain and stiffness, the Italian has finally decided to have surgery to fix the problem. Speaking to Italian television after a promotional event at Mugello, Rossi said "in the end, the problem is my shoulder, and at the end of the year, I will have an operation to fix it." So far, Rossi intimated, the mixture of strength training and physiotherapy had failed to resolve the problems he has had with the shoulder, and surgery was now the only option to correct the problem.
Rossi's decision to have surgery has been complicated by his earlier decision to switch from Yamaha to Ducati for the 2011 MotoGP season. With testing as limited as it is, and the Ducati still with a reputation for being a difficult bike to ride, Rossi will need as much time as possible on the new machine. But after the factories rejected a proposal to have an extra test in Jerez at the end of November, this gives the Italian two months to recover from surgery after the end-of-season test following the final race of the year at Valencia. If Yamaha decide not to allow Rossi to test - the Italian is under contract to the Japanese factory until December 31st of this year - then he could have surgery directly after the race at Valencia.
The recovery period for surgery of this kind is generally six to eight weeks, with four months generally required for a return to full fitness. That would allow Rossi to be fit to ride during the tests in Sepang and Qatar in February and early March, and back at full strength at the first race of the 2011 season at Qatar on March 20th.
Comments
Smacks of Stoner
I wish Valentino all the best and what has to be done,must be done.
Mid 2008 Stoner had the recurrent scaphoid issue. He rode out the rest of the season and then had the op done.Op was successfull, but in the effort to get himself 100% for the 2009 season,he probably overdid it in order to catch up, which led to chronic fatigue and cost him around 7 or 8 races at that level.
I'm not Rossi,but if I was,I would walk out and get it done now.
Title fight is between George and Dani anyway,for what's left of it.
Rossi owes nothing to Yamaha and they don't owe him anything either.
With contractual obligations,I don't know how all of this sits,but in my humble view,Valentino should walk out of 2010 now in order to properly prepare for 2011/12.Ducati would be wise to emphasise this.They have the data re-the Stoner 2008/9 debacle.
In reply to Smacks of Stoner by PIT BULL
I guess you never raced
You just don't walk out in the middle of the season if you can wait untill the season is over
Eventually it would come
Sete's Curse.
Conspiracy theory......with
Conspiracy theory......with all of the speculation about whether or not Yamaha will release Rossi in time for Valencia testing, this could be a back door way for Yamaha to help Rossi one last time. By not releasing him he can get his surgery done straight away and then blame Yamaha next year if he is slow due to lack of test time. Purely entertaining fantasy but an interesting twist. It would take some of the pressure off of Rossi, giving him an "out" as it were.
Release
Definitely sooner rather than later.Yamaha in these trying economic times helped him enough.As did his dad,Graziano,HRC,AGV,Michelin...statistically best in 2007.
Valentino at Ducati smacks of Michael at Mercedes and the chickens are comming home to roost.
Great racer,Valentino,but I agree with Brookespeed viz a viz Sete...what goes around comes around.
Reminds me of Jerez and Catalunya some time back. That shoulder smash destroyed Sete's aspirations and #65's title hopes.Sete only ever fought one way...fair play.
Anyway,I really hope Yamaha give Rossi clearance to test post Valencia.They probably will,knowing he's a spent force.
Whichever way,good choices with the shoulder and all the best.
I'm not a doctor...
... but this shoulder problem sounds an awful lot like the one that forced Hodgson (and others) to retire... I think Vale will be back no matter what, and I certainly don't want to make excuses for the guy, but there is the possibility he'll never be 100% again.
here's a thought
if it becomes clear that yamaha won't release rossi early then why not just have the shoulder op straight away and miss the last few races for yamaha, like pit bull said the only one with an outside chance of beating jorge to the title is dani.
doubt it would happen but it would be a good F--- you to yamaha and would give rossi more time to recover for next year
In reply to here's a thought by jpbits
Because he wants
to race.
What's the point being in MotoGP if that's not your #1 priority? All of the injured riders this season have repeatedly stated that the #1 motivator for them is to go out and race, even if they're not at peak performance. It's the reason Rossi came back so soon, the reason De Puniet came back so soon, the reason Aoyama isn't sitting out the entire season.. they've all said that they can't stand sitting on the side and watching the races. They want to be out on track. Wouldn't anyone?
Sure, Rossi is a different calibre of rider than most of the field. Sure, he *should* be contending for championships, not third place. But the thought that he would look at a season and say, "oh well, I can't win the title this year, might as well give up" is so foreign to these riders, as it should be. That's why he wont sit out any races unless he physically can't ride.
Wouldn't it be a bigger "F You" to Yamaha for him to go out and beat JLo in the last couple of races? Wouldn't it be more impressive if Rossi made his recovery in less time and came to Ducati and started winning right off the bat?
Wouldn't it make more sense for the GOAT to just go out and ride?
In reply to Because he wants by not12x
Thank You
I agree
In reply to Because he wants by not12x
Why the F You" to Yamaha???????
I'm not sure why Yamaha, nor Lorenzo for that matter deserve such negativity from some MotoGP fans. Rossi decided to leave Yamaha for a number of reasons-surely not because he was treated unfairly. Lorenzo is a good rider who is full of confidence and likes to celebrate his victories. It's hard enough to be on the podium, let the lad be... he's only had a few of those in the top class. I guess if one is not associated to Rossi your are the devil.
In reply to Because he wants by not12x
good points
and just to make it clear i wasnt suggesting the rossi SHOULD get his shoulder fixed early, just thinking it could be a possibility...if yamaha decides to play hard ball with his contract. personally i like watching him ride so i dont want him to stop.
I agree that racing is incredibly addictive and that most, if not all of the racers out there mainly because they love racing motorcycles , but from my limited experience on the outside looking in and from knowing some with paying rides that have come back from injury a huge reason that they rush back (apart from the simple need to race) is because if they sit out races, they will find themselves out of a job come contract time.
last year stoner's physical condition didnt allow him to fight for the championship, so he missed races until he was better. If rossi's shoulder injury is affecting his riding as much as we are being led to beleive would it be fair to assume he wants to get it fixed sooner rather than later? it's one thing to ride through the pain on an injury, but if its not healing you have to start wondering if its worth it. it cant be much fun riding around hoping to get 3rd if you think you could be fighting for wins.
rossi knows that he is going to need all the advantage he can when he goes to ducati. if he can go there and win he'll get enough legendary status for that, he doesnt need to make it any harder for himself.
Oh dear!
relax..
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
The only spent force outthere is yamaha..
Contrary to the beliefs of many, championships can't just be ordered off a menu for the top price... Yamaha would be looking at Hondas total domination of the 990 era, followed by domination of the 800 era without Rossi and Jlo would also be on a Honda and probably Spies too.
Pitbull you think Rossi falling off in training is karma becuase Sete hit Capirossi (or vice versa?)and did his shoulder in? .. which Casey then finished off and took his ride?
Thought that level of bollocks was saved for crash... apparently not..
hom....hom....hom
Methinks
That Rossi is secretly hoping for enough fitness to pull off a Valencia win so he can try to pull the back-to-back win on different makes, two different times.
I (and I am sure Rossi) realize how much of a longshot that is, but nobody can argue it wouldn't humiliate Yamaha while ticking off a box Rossi thought he would never had the chance to tick off.
Just a harebrained thought...
In reply to Methinks by harumph
i strongly doubt that...
i strongly doubt that... the last time Rossi won at Valencia was in 2004 and that was one of just 2 wins there throughout the goat's entire career. Rossi wants to race and his target is 3rd in the championship and perhaps a win in the process.
In reply to i strongly doubt that... by popmonkey
.
I know. He hates Valencia. It would be a nice bit of theater though.
In reply to i strongly doubt that... by popmonkey
but...
How much of that was the fact that the season were decided (except 2006, of course) and it didn't matter how hard he rode?
---------------------------------------------
MotoTheory.com - MotoGP Data & Statistics
In reply to but... by Jerry Osborne
i think in 2004 he wanted to
i think in 2004 he wanted to end the season in a high note, plus by that time the M1 had really become a fantastic machine. the other time, in 2003 he was so ridiculously dominant on the most dominant bike he could pretty much do as he pleased - and did.
if you're saying, however, that he simply doesn't ride as hard as he needed to because aside from 2006 the season had been decide already, i think you're wrong. just watch the 2005 round to see how badly he wanted to win that one...
Isn't anyone else wondering
Isn't anyone else wondering why he didn't have this surgery done when he had the leg surgery done? At that time he knew the shoulder was the bigger problem moving forward. I assume he wouldn't have been able to come back in Germany but he would have had a stronger finish to the season for sure.
Anyway, good luck Valentino. I hope you are able to return to full fitness.
In reply to Isn't anyone else wondering by Ed
much longer
Shoulder surgery is often much longer than a 4 week recovery for a leg with a rod in it. After a 2-3 month lay off I think it would have been harder to come back and be competitive. Clearly he's been competitive with the injury, just not at the top of his game.
In reply to Isn't anyone else wondering by Ed
Leg And Shoulder Surgeries At Once
It's pretty hard to get around on crutches when you've just had shoulder surgery.
Good point
--------------------
It's pretty hard to get around on crutches when you've just had shoulder surgery.
-CliveF
--------------------
I imagine it's not much fun with a damaged shoulder either.
IMO, shoulders seem to have lower % of recovery.
They get better, but rarely back to 100%.
factories reject extra tests?
"But after the factories rejected a proposal to have an extra test in Jerez at the end of November, ..."
Did I miss an article somewhere? Or is this the first mention of this news on motomatters?
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2010/Septem…
Personal Experience
Although clearly I am not Rossi and I 'only' injured myself tripping over the pavement (sidewalk- US) -no alcohol involved. I managed to break my humerous and tear most of the rotator cuff. Six months on I still have restricted movement, painful physio and haven't ridden my bike all summer. All I do is ride a keyboard so I can't imagine hanging onto a MotoGP bike. I can tell you that damage to the shoulder is very painful and according to my doctors very rarely returns to 100%.
Ok just a couple thoughts
Having a repaired leg and shoulder probably wouldn't be so bad if say he just got wheeled around in a wheelchair for a bit. Yeah crutches aren't the only things people use when they have leg injuries.
Also I understand the "racers race" attitude but that's kinda making Rossi and racers in general sound like idiots for not being able to reason and comprehend. He isn't racing for the title only points and positions now. So if indeed his # 1 priority is to race then does that mean to just keep circulating and possibly getting a podium for Yamaha or getting fixed and healthy in preparation for winning a title next year for Ducati which is where his future is at.
It would be a shame if the Italian gets on the Italian bike next year only to be hampered by a slow healing shoulder.
supermen?
Jeez, who are the supermen who think they can recover from multiple surgeries at the same time? Barring a life threatening injury you dont get multiple major surgeries at the same time. Too much trauma on the body.
In reply to supermen? by BDiddy
Point taken but I believe
Point taken but I believe the fix to this particular injury is arthroscopic surgery so even tough yes there would be some trauma it's probably less then what you may initially think. Then again I'm not a doctor so I could be totally wrong.
Shoulder can be fixed but....
As one of the other poster pointed out - rehab for a shoulder is far more difficult than for a leg. A shoulder moves in many directions so the amount of exercises one must do is many - some of the exercises are quite un-natural to me. I suffered a shoulder injury (a couple actually) and they're tricky to rehab. He will return to a 100% eventually - but the time line is short to get back to a 100% by March.
He made the right decision to try and re-hab it first - Surgery is always the final option.
It's amazing how much nonsense gets posted here >>>
First off, Stoner's lack of performance was due to being lactose intolerable, not pushing too hard to make a come back from shoulder surgery.
As far as Rossi is concerned ... quickly we forget what he did back in 2004 with Yamaha. Considering his consistant performance in the last 100 years (Im exaggerating, of course), why would anyone doubt his ability on a Ducati? At least Ducati shows some promise, were as Yamaha at the time showed NONE.
And suggesting for Rossi to bail out mid season to get ready for next year is absurd. No racer (and no one can deny that is what/who Rossi is) would ever think of doing such a thing.
My .02 ... worth what you paid.
Cheers!
Eddie
In reply to It's amazing how much nonsense gets posted here >>> by GoVale
Your name suggests that you
Your name suggests that you might be a smidge biased. The doubt in Rossi's ability comes from the rule disparities between now, and then. More specifically, the severely limited testing that has been made available. While it would be unwise to rule Rossi out, it is not a stretch to claim that he will struggle.
As to his shoulder? Well.. it's his shoulder. I'm sure that he will make the best decision that is made available for him.
In reply to Your name suggests that you by Hagetaka
Great observation. ;)))
Yes, I might be a smidge bias with my opinion. But as important as testing is, I think some are placing too much importance in testing as to determine the outcome of the entire season. One could easily say that the extra testing Rossi had on the Yamaha allowed him to get the bike in the condition the Ducati is already in. The Ducati is competitive ... now! The Yamaha was not.
I'm just sayin'
Cheers!
Rossi shoulder surgery
Govale makes sense, The Ducati is in better shape than the Yamaha of 04.
plus, Stoner had Lactose problems.
Lets hope Rossi is close to 100% for 2011. G
A reminder - a nagging
A reminder - a nagging shoulder injury ended Doohan's career. He said at the time, that he could come back any time and run in the top 5 ~ 7 but he didn't want to end his career as an also ran. He said at the time that he was used to being the dominant rider, and if he could never be that again, then it was time to quit.
Mike
kneedragon1962@gmail.com
2004 M1 was not a piece of crap
for some reason the mythology of the M1 being a piece of crap in the 990 era continues. it was not a piece of crap. it was a podium scoring machine. the rossi mystique seems to have turned it into a 3rd or 4th tier bike when in reality it was probably the 2nd best bike on the grid. it suffered from not having a good rider upon it more than true technical issues. it was "infinitely" adjustable and riders had trouble getting it dialed in. however in those days gp bikes had plenty of power and little electronics and a great rider like VR46 could ride through them. also, do not forget Carlos Checa winning on the M1 in lemans, with Rossi off the podium. that was just 3 rounds in. the M1 did NOT suck.
fast forwarding into the twilight of the 800 era and it's a whole different ballgame. the racing is much more clinical - setups and riding technique have to be absolutely spot on to win races. the ducati may SEEM to be closer to the M1 but i think it is only because the Suzuki is so bad... i think that rossi will find that getting an extra second per lap on the mythically crappy M1 was a lot easier than 1/10th of a second will be on the Ducati. in addition, it's not the M1 that he will need to worry about. it'll be the honda which i think is now clearly the best bike on the grid. i think with both pedrosa and stoner on factory hondas in 2010, the M1 will again be eclipsed.
finally, in 2004 Rossi was merely 25 years old. and completely unhurt.
In reply to 2004 M1 was not a piece of crap by popmonkey
YES IT WAS...
...a piece of crap, because MAX BIAGGI SAID SO. And we KNOW that he doesn't idly whine. No sirree, not from "Mr. Humility". Not a chance. :) (HA!!!)
You make some great points, but I hope that they aren't THAAAAAAT great. :)
The Honda is gonna be a holy terror next year. Of that I am pretty certain. If Pedrosa dominates for the rest of the year, then that's also gonna take a bit of sparkle off the "God Almighty" status of Jorge, instead chalking a further amount of his domination up to the lack of competition from the other bikes. It seems obvious that Honda will be putting in sufficient resources to build a world-beater for next year, but what will the new Chairman/CEO/President/Prime Minister at Yamaha decide to do? Mike Scott still has given the best-stated hypothesizing of the (possible) situation at Yamaha, as well as Honda. Very enlightening stuff.
This is Honda: http://mag.gpweek.com/?iid=39251 Pages 20-21
This is Yamaha: http://mag.gpweek.com/?iid=39727 Pages 20-21
And now...
...with what is publicly acknowledged as a truly significant and debilitating injury, nobody will ever be able say for sure and for certain...that the healthy Rossi.just didn't have an answer for the healthy Lorenzo.
So, now it turns out that ACTUALLY...a healthy Rossi beat Lorenzo at Qatar. Then, from that point on, a thoroughly UNhealthy Rossi hasn't been physically able to ride at 100%.
That takes exactly NOTHING away from Lorenzo's brilliance this year, as he is truly awesome this year; however, it hasn't been an even match between healthy riders since Qatar. Mind you, if it was Lorenzo who was injured, the Rossi fans would gladly accept it on a silver platter, but knowing that there's a REAL REASON why VR isn't up to speed...well...
It kinda takes a little of the lustre off the "confident declarations" of Rossi's demise.
In reply to And now... by Crimson Tide
Healthy Rossi vs Unhealthy Lorenzo
At Qatar, Lorenzo was still suffering the after-effects of a hand injury which he had hurt training on a supermoto bike. Rossi beat Lorenzo when Lorenzo was still in quite a lot of pain from his hand. So we have not seen a healthy Rossi vs a healthy Lorenzo this year.
In reply to Healthy Rossi vs Unhealthy Lorenzo by David Emmett
Yes, yes, and to quote myself:
"Mind you, if it was Lorenzo who was injured, the Rossi fans would gladly accept it on a silver platter..."
Not "would"...in years past, they DID. I'm admitting this right up front. :)
Maybe, with us now being "privy to all the new info", there won't be such vociferous declarations from atop Everest that Rossi is a deposed has-been.
Yamaha could conceivably be on the cusp of something between a slide and a meltdown (they're already being outclassed in some ways right now, and that's not counting the debacle that may be coming on the engine front at the end of the year), and I think time may prove Rossi to be getting out while the getting's good.