Fabio Di Giannantonio “95% physically ready” for Thai MotoGP, but shoulder “0%”

The 2025 MotoGP preseason started in almost the worst way possible for Fabio Di Giannantonio with a collarbone fracture on the first day of testing, and the Italian has admitted that he still has a lack of physical strength in his injured shoulder ahead of this weekend’s first round in Thailand.

The VR46 Racing Team rider broke the collarbone on his left shoulder on day one of the Sepang test at the beginning of February, the same shoulder that the Italian had been through surgery on at the end of 2024 to fix the damage he sustained during the dislocation he suffered in Austria last summer.

The result was a lack of testing, but also a lack of training – both on and off the bike, as he explained.

“No, because the surgery has gone perfectly but I broke my collarbone in quite a particular point, let’s say, quite on the edge of the collarbone,” Di Giannantonio said on Thursday (27 February).

“So, the plate that we put is on the edge of the collarbone and if I stress the collarbone during these 14 days I could have probably [broken] the collarbone [and] have to do again another surgery.

“So, these 14 days have been critical and I had to be really precise on the work to do on the shoulder again. But now I’m here, I will be on the bike on my 17th day after the surgery, so I think it will be a good time to restart.”

The Italian added that he hadn’t been able to do any gym work, either, instead spending most of his time doing physiotherapy.

“Physio, most hours in the physio,” Di Giannantonio said about his winter training.

“Let’s say that for sure, after the first surgery, the recovery was quite long, so I did a lot of pool, work in the gym, the physio, and now [after the second surgery] again especially on the physio because I couldn’t workout in the gym because I really had to rest the shoulder again.

“So, now I’m like 95 per cent physically ready, and then zero per cent on the shoulder. But, anyway, I feel good and motivated to start.”

Despite the lack of physical preparation during the winter, Di Giannantonio indicated he’s confident he’s taken the right path to recover his shoulder and collarbone.

“If you read even in the books, you need six weeks to make a bone recover perfectly, and we are much less than six weeks,” he said.

“Also, the way I had the injury, I had to recover, I just had to give the time to the plate and the collarbone to recover as much as possible to arrive here to do effort.

“So, it’s not doing 10 or 20 push-ups in these days that makes you be stronger or more ready for racing. If you do a proper work in one month, two months, for sure it helps; but to make push-ups on Monday or three days ago does less.”

The Italian is also without doubts that he will be able to race this weekend in Thailand, even if his ambitions are relatively modest.

“I will be ready. For sure I will miss some power on the left arm, but last year I did seven races with a shoulder that was coming out in every braking, so not much worry.”

About his goals for the weekend, he added: “To finish both races, making a lot of laps, understanding the bike, and finding my flow again – as I was having in the first day of testing.

“I would be super-happy. Then, whatever it takes is good, whatever result.”

“It seems like it’s the best Ducati bike”

Aside from the obvious physical ones, the other consequence of Di Giannantonio’s collarbone fracture in Sepang was his lack of testing time on the new Ducati.

Given much of Ducati’s 2025 preseason was spent deciding between 2024 and 2025 specification components, with the decision ultimately going the way of the former, Di Giannantonio’s absence meant he had little input in Ducati’s development direction for this year, which instead was based almost entirely on the comments of the two riders of the factory team: Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.

Di Giannantonio, though, at least said he was confident in Ducati’s decision to use a base derived from the Desmosedici GP24, rather than the 2025 specification.

“Ducati brought a new specification in Sepang that I tested, and they changed quite a few things, but they changed these few things to have a better bike,” he said.

“So, I know perfectly that Ducati wants to give us the best support, as we know we are the factory supported team and rider so if this is the best bike then for me I’m ready.

“Also, we have the same package as Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] and Marc [Marquez], so we are all on the same package, the same bike, and it seems like it’s the best Ducati bike.”

He added that, in Buriram this weekend, he “will try something different; but it’s the latest evolution of the bike.”

Quotes provided by Peter McLaren in Buriram.