Fabio di Giannantonio issues concerning injury update for 2025
VR46 rider will be the third GP25 rider next season
Fabio Di Giannantonio says his recovery from MotoGP season-ending shoulder surgery is going well but he won’t be 100% fit for February testing in Malaysia.
The VR46 rider elected to end his 2024 campaign after October’s Thai Grand Prix to have surgery on the left shoulder he dislocated at the Austrian GP in August.
Di Giannantonio had the operation on 2 November and it was deemed a success, with his first in-person update to the media at Tuesday’s Barcelona test noting that his recover is going quicker than expected.
However, he doesn’t think he will be fully fit when he rides the GP25 for the first time at Sepang in February.
“I’m good. These days I’m much, much better compared to last week,” he told the media, including Crash.net, on Tuesday.
“I made the surgery on the Saturday of Malaysia. So, the first few days were tough, it was impossible to sleep and the pain was [a lot].
“But now I’m really good. Also, the medical staff are impressed with all the improvements I’m making day by day.
“So, that’s really good. After next week I will start to work also a little bit in the pool.
“In two weeks I will remove this [sling], so I can start to make the rehabilitation in an active way, moving the shoulder by myself.
“So, I’m completing the process. It’s a long process, a long winter, but I’m good at the moment.
“I think we’ve done it in the right timing, because even if I’m recovering a bit faster I will have the right time to train and be ready for next season, because the plan at the moment is for sure to make the first official test in Sepang.
“But I will not be 100% physically, because if you see me naked at the moment, for sure it will not be a big show - you will see I’ve lost a lot of muscles.
“So, to rebuild those muscles, to rebuild that energy, that stamina will take a long time. So, I think we’ve done everything in the right time.”
Di Giannantonio has been keeping a close eye on testing at Barcelona, with Michele Pirro filling in for him in the VR46 box as he puts more laps on the GP25.
While the one-time MotoGP winner knows what the aims are for the development of the GP25, he says Ducati has instructed he doesn’t talk to Pirro too much about how the bike feels as to not complicate his own adaptation in February.
“Let’s say that with Michele we didn’t speak that much at this moment of the day, because he’s working,” he added.
“Also, the team and Ducati don’t want me to know too much the feelings from the new bike to not have [expectations] when I’m back on the bike, so to have a clear head when I try the bike.
“But also for sure I know what they are trying, where they are working and where the new bike will be. But I don’t want to know the feelings. So, we are speaking but in a distant way.”
