Crutchlow: My body hurts

Amid talk of a possible retirement from MotoGP at the close of 2020, Cal Crutchlow has said it is far from certain as to whether his current deal with HRC that runs until the end of next season will be his last.

In a recent interview with Motomatters.com, the 33-year old discussed retirement and the factors involved in any eventual decision. Pressed on his thoughts at Silverstone on Friday Crutchlow opened up on these, namely the pain from the serious ankle injury sustained last October.

“I don’t know how long I can keep dealing with that instead of having a bit of a normal life,” he admitted. From July his right ankle has caused him serious discomfort in everyday life. “My body hurts,” he concluded.

“I presumed this would be my last contract,” began Crutchlow, who ended FP2 in fifth place. “I could probably re-sign today to do two more years of what I’m currently doing. I’m not as fast any more. I’m as fast in races but not over one lap or what I used to be.

“I can’t tell you why. I think I’m a better rider. I do try and hang it on the line still. Maybe it’s a combination of me, the bike etc. I still think I can win races so it’s not about that. It’s more my body hurts.

“I’m not weak. I will always ride and give my 100 percent. But my body hurts in general, not just because of last year’s crash. I don’t know how long I can keep dealing with that instead of having a bit of a normal life. People react differently to things.

“I also feel I’ve given my absolute all to the sport. If that’s not enough to win a MotoGP world title then so be it. I feel I give 100 percent every lap of every race. I’ve enjoyed my career with ups an downs. I’d change it that I missed a few podiums here at the end of the day…

“I’m not saying I’m going to retire. What happens next year if I’m not feeling any pain? Or if I end up leading the championship again? I don’t need to race. I race because I love it. I keep coming back because I love the sport. We’ll see.”

On the pain he has felt recently, Crutchlow said, “My ankle is bad. In the last couple of months it’s gone bad again. I had five months when it was fantastic.

“Honestly I ran on a running machine in my garage for no reason. I wanted to see if I could do it. I did. No problem. This was in May. Then before Sachsenring I started having some pain. We’re trying to understand why. I don’t know.

“I had pain at the start of the year and couldn’t walk. It went away. Now it’s come back again. It’s similar to the pain I had about a month after the operation. But no, my shoulders hurt, my arm hurts, my knees hurt.

“I think personally it’s the metalwork [in the ankle] pushing against the nerve and tendons. I can do an MRI scan but they see nothing. I’m going to wait to see my surgeon who did the operation in Australia.

“I have to remember this injury is normally a year for people. Read a report and people say they don’t have a normal life. I’m still racing a motorcycle living a great life.

“But I’m in pain. I think the metalwork has to come out. I don’t want to take it out at the end of the year because it means I won’t race at the start of next year. These nerves that are hurting me are into the ankle. They have to move them again to take the metalwork out.

“How do I know how it’ll react to that movement? It could be worse. The surgeon says with nerves it could be two weeks and you have no pain. But it could be two years. 50% wants to take it out, 50% doesn’t. But I only have seven weeks at the end of the year, which is a nightmare.

“I’ve had CT scans. It looks fine. But I still have this pain. Honestly the first ten minutes of doing anything is painful.”