Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro recovering after arm pump surgery
Aleix Espargaro has become the fourth MotoGP rider to undergo arm-pump surgery this season, going ahead with his planned operation on the Monday following the French Grand Prix.
The Aprilia rider had been advised to undertake surgery after suffering arm pump problems in the Jerez race.
That was the same event where Fabio Quartararo plummeted from the lead to 13th due to issue with his right forearm and underwent surgery shortly after.
Espargaro, who unlike Quartararo took part in the Jerez test decided time was too short before Le Mans and so scheduled the operation for Monday.
The Spaniard didn't suffer any arm pump issues during the French GP, which came to a premature conclusion due to a technical problem, but felt he needed to follow the advice of the doctors and go ahead with the operation in order to avoid any issues at Aprilia's upcoming home Mugello round.
"No, I feel nothing today," Espargaro had said of arm pump during the Le Mans race. "I'm a bit, not 100% convinced and a little bit angry to have to be operated on [Monday] because surgery is something serious.
"But I'm a little scared about Mugello and today we lost a lot of points, so in Mugello we have to recover these points with a strong race. So if an operation is better than not, I will try. I don’t want to have doubts in Mugello."
As well Espargaro and Quartararo, Ducati's Jack Miller and Tech3's Iker Lecuona have undergone arm pump surgery this season.
Espargaro remains seventh in the world championship, ten places higher than he finished last season, despite his non-score in France – which occurred while he was on course to again match, and perhaps beat, the RS-GP's best MotoGP result of sixth.
"I'm very frustrated, more than ever because how difficult weekend at Le Mans had been," Espargaro said. "I had a very tricky beginning of the weekend. Yesterday we had a problem with one engine and I crashed also twice. We started P13. The race was flag-to-flag, but I'm very proud about my level because in the dry I did a good start. I felt very strong in the dry sincerely.
"I told myself 'why I can't I be fast here, if I've been fast at other circuits?' so I started super, super convinced about myself and I felt very strong sincerely. Before the rain I was catching Marc and Nakagami, Rins was a little bit faster but already P3 or P4. So I was very confident.
"Then when it started to rain I was very angry, I took the rain bike, I lost many positions in the first lap but then I started – I don’t know why! – to feel for the first time in many years really fast in the wet!
"I started to overtake Valentino, Lecuona, Petrucci, my brother, Vinales. Many riders in just two laps. So it's a very big shame to lose these points because today we could finish quite easy in the top 5-6.
"It was very important as many rivals from our 'zone' did mistakes, so we lost a big opportunity to leave Le Mans with close to 50 points which is a big and serious number."
Espargaro wouldn't be drawn on the exact nature of the technical problem, or if it was the same issue that forced team-mate Lorenzo Savadori out of the race with smoke billowing from his engine.
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.
