Valentino Rossi Fractures Right Tibia in Accident in Mugello

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

Valentino Rossi has suffered a displaced and exposed fracture of his right tibia after crashing in practice for the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello this morning. The reigning World Champion crashed his Fiat Yamaha M1 at turn thirteen, the fast chicane at the top of the hill, and was taken immediately to the circuit Medical Centre for x-rays. Further information will be made public as soon as a more detailed examination has been completed.

UPDATE 7th June

Dr. Roberto Buzzi, head of Trauma at the CTO Careggi (Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico) in Florence, Italy, made the following statement about Valentino Rossi today:

“Today Valentino underwent another small operation to close the wound, which is looking good. We closed it with 15 stitches and our overall medical judgement is positive. We used a short general anaesthetic and when he woke up he was in good shape. The healing process of the injury is going well and as expected in Valentino’s condition.”

Update 6th June

Following surgery to repair his broken right leg yesterday afternoon, Valentino Rossi is recovering well at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence, Italy.

Dr. Roberto Buzzi of the CTO, who performed the operation, gave the following update this morning: “Valentino is recovering well following yesterday’s operation and his morale seems to be high in the circumstances. Tomorrow we will wash and stitch the wound. He has been moved to a more normal room in the hospital and the only requests he has made are for peace and quiet, privacy and a television on which to watch today’s race!”

Update: 19.48 GMT

Valentino Rossi underwent a successful operation at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence, Italy this afternoon to repair his fractured right tibia. The injury was sustained when he crashed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello this morning.He was operated on by Dr. Roberto Buzzi of the CTO, assisted by Dr. Claudio Costa of the Clinica Mobile. Dr. Buzzi made the following statement following the 2.5 hour operation:

“We received Valentino Rossi at the Careggi Hospital, where we made detailed checks in order to rule out any other injuries, and the results were satisfactory. We therefore decided to proceed with the surgery for the exposed fracture of the right leg. We performed a spinal block (epidural) and cleaned and washed the fracture, which was then aligned and stabilised with a pin. The surgery had good results; the alignment was good and the bone is now stable. The wound remains open, as is usual in these cases, and it will be stitched in the next few days with another short surgery. We are confident that Valentino will be able to leave the hospital in a week to ten days, able to put weight on the leg with the aid of crutches.

“It is difficult to say how long the post surgery rehabilitation will take, we need to evaluate the progress of the patient and also what the x-rays will show. But I think that we can reasonably think of six weeks partial weight-bearing with crutches, after which Valentino needs to be re-evaluated, according to his feedback and further x-rays.”

Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis added “It was a very sad day today for Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team, seeing Vale in so much pain and seriously injured for the first time in his career. It is especially tough for Vale to have this accident at his home Grand Prix and this will surely be a huge disappointment for him and for all his fans here at the Mugello circuit and around the world. As a Team we are very deflated right now because we had our two riders challenging for the championship lead and now that challenge is over - at least for the immediate future. We wish Vale the very best for a speedy recovery and hope to have him back with us as soon as possible.”

Update: 19:00 GMT

Valentino Rossi as undergone surgery which has gone well. They have pinned his leg and are happy. The wound will stay open for a couple of days before they close it all up.

Update: 14.30 CET

After undergoing further medical checks at the Careggi Hospital Emergency Centre and afterwards at the CTO (Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico) in Florence, it has been decided that Valentino Rossi will undergo an operation this afternoon on his fractured right shinbone. He is going under anaesthetic now and a further update will be sent once the operation has finished.

Rossi crashed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello this morning, suffering a displaced and exposed fracture to the third medium of the right shinbone.

Update: 12.30 CET:

Following his crash in practice for the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello this morning, Valentino Rossi has been taken by helicopter to the Careggi Hospital in Florence for a deeper medical examination. After that he will be moved to the CTO (Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico), which is close by.

The official diagnosis, made by the circuit Medical Centre and the Chief Medical Officer, is that Rossi has suffered a displaced and exposed fracture to the third medium of the right shinbone.

The current thinking is that Rossi will be out for a minimum of two months! These will be the first races Rossi has missed since 31st March 1996. Rossi has 230 uninterrupted GP’s but this will mean he won’t be racing at his home race.

Rossi will not take any further part in this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Jorge Lorenzo: “I want to say how sad I am for Valentino. I know how bad it is to be injured, especially at your home race, and it looks very painful for him. I hope he recovers quickly because the championship will not be the same without him”

Eugene Laverty: “Real nasty crash for Rossi. 14 years without missing a single race, that was an impressive record. He’ll be back sooner rather than later. They reckon Vale will be out till Brno, I think he’ll be back for the Sachsenring + Laguna. Both circuits left hand in, easier on right leg.”

Leon Haslam: “Get well and back on that bike Vale.”

Suzi Perry: “Oh Lord poor Vale, fractured leg… Sad”

Wilco Zeelenberg: “We want to say how sorry we are for Valentino; everyone wants to beat him but only on the racetrack and all the riders and our team members are sad that he has so much pain and that he can’t race.”

One Response to “Valentino Rossi Fractures Right Tibia in Accident in Mugello”

1. Mlb Jersey says:

   Thumbs up and keep it going! Landlord.

   Reply