16:10 – Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso broke his collarbone on Sunday during a motocross competition. The rider will be operated on Sunday evening to repair the fracture.
Dovizioso participated – exceptionally and with the permission of Ducati – in a regional motocross competition in Emilia Romagna. He fell and fell hard on his left shoulder, an eyewitness said. After the incident, Dovizioso was taken to Forli’s hospital. Italian media reported the broken collarbone, Ducati confirmed the news on Sunday afternoon. “Under normal circumstances, surgery wouldn’t be necessary, but we decided to do it anyway to make sure it’s 100 percent when we get to Jerez,” Ducati said in a short statement.
The Italian was given permission to participate in an MX race to build form towards the restart of the MotoGP season, which starts on July 19 with the Spanish Grand Prix. It is not known exactly how the driver is doing, but a potential clavicle fracture is quite unfortunate with such a short time until the start of the season. MotoGP riders will be back in action for a one-day test on the Jerez circuit on Wednesday, July 15. Missing a race could also have major consequences for the title campaign. At the moment there are only thirteen races on the program.
Even before news of the Dovizioso crash came out, manager Simone Battistella spoke to the Gazzetta dello Sport about the negotiations between his pupil and Ducati. “For me it is 99 percent sure that we will renew the contract,” said Battistella. “We first wanted to work out the details for this year and then it was a good time to look forward to 2021. After the conversations, I understood from Ducati that they would like to reach an agreement, but there is still nothing on paper.”
Ducati recently announced that it is not in a hurry to capture Dovizioso.
