Surgery complete for both Espargaro brothers!
MotoGP brothers Aleix and Pol Espargaro both underwent surgery in Spain on Tuesday.
Suzuki star Aleix required an operation to repair damage to his right hand, injured during a huge Saturday morning highside at Le Mans.
Espargaro returned to qualify in tenth before an early clutch problem put him out of the race. Further medical checks in Barcelona on Monday then revealed the need for surgery on a 'rupture in the ulnar collateral ligament of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the right thumb'.
Espargaro, who finished the French race in seventh for the home Monster Yamaha Tech 3, struggled with the cramp-like arm pump symptoms from lap seven of the Le Mans race.
Having faced the same issue at the previous Spanish round, the decision to undergo surgery was made.
"I had noticed this discomfort in my arm after some events before and I thought that it would get better quickly after the end so the race, but it didn't," Pol confirmed. "Therefore I went to visit a physical therapist about the discomfort I had in my right forearm after Le Mans and we quickly discovered that I needed to see a specialist.
"We decided to reduce the time between consultation and surgery, with the doctor Angel Villamor, in order to have as much time as possible between the operation and the next race. The truth is that I had experienced that sensation before but I did not consider it important, but unfortunately in these last two races it has been a little more serious.
"In Jerez, I believed that I suffered pain due to the type of circuit and the effort that I made during the first few laps trying to follow Lorenzo and Marquez and then Rossi and Crutchlow. Yet, in Le Mans it was even worse because I struggled very early in the race being nearly unable to ride the bike.
"Fortunately, the operation went well and I can now start working again in order to get in the best possible physical condition for the upcoming races."
The Espargaros now have nine days to recover before the start of Italian MotoGP round at Mugello.
Dani Pedrosa missed three rounds following arm pump surgery earlier this season. However the Honda rider required a complicated procedure after earlier operations failed to cure the problem.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
