Aleix Espargaro withdraws from Sunday’s Dutch MotoGP

Although passed fit to ride in Sunday's warm-up for the Dutch MotoGP, after fracturing the fifth metacarpal in his right hand, Aleix Espargaro has elected to withdraw from the event ‘in order to speed up the recovery’.

The Aprilia star suffered the hand injury in a high-speed accident while holding sixth place on the final lap of Saturday’s Sprint race.

It was his second heavy accident of the weekend after landing heavily on his back at the final chicane on Friday.

Hospital checks on Saturday evening revealed the fracture, but Espargaro was subsequently ‘declared fit for the warm up’ on Sunday morning.

The Spaniard, who will retire from MotoGP at the end of this season, was then due to undergo another medical check after warm-up to decide on his fitness for the 26-lap grand prix.

However, a further update from Aprilia announced that he will not ride on Sunday. Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said Espargaro was in so much pain he could not even put his glove on.

The #41 is the second Aprilia rider ruled out of today's race with wild-card Lorenzo Savadori suffering back fractures in the Sprint.

Espargaro had been due to start from fourth on the grid, after title leader Jorge Martin's penalty. 

Espargaro will now turn his focus to next weekend’s German MotoGP at Sachsenring, which starts on Friday.