MotoGP News
As expected, Valentino Rossi underwent shoulder surgery after the post-season MotoGP tests at Valencia, and will need up to 90 days of rehabilitation before the 2011 MotoGP season.
The nine-time World Champion Rossi had the surgery done Sunday at the Cervesi di Cattolica hospital in his native Italy, with successful procedures performed by Doctor Alex Castagna from the Milan Humanitas Institute and shoulder specialist Dr Giuseppe Porcellini.
Doctors says the arthroscopic surgery was on the supraspinatus tendon and glenoid ligament.
Rossi’s Surgeons say: “The condition of the shoulder was really critical: Valentino really had to be tough to keep racing with that kind of injury. The intervention went well, without any complications. For rehabilitation, you’d usually need 90 days for that kind of injury but we’ll do our best in order to meet the requirements of the rider.”
MotoGP says the surgery lasted for two hours from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the surgeons were assisted by Doctors Fabrizio Campi and Paolo Paladini. Rossi will now remain in hospital overnight before beginning his rehabilitation in the coming days.
The then Fiat Yamaha rider injured his right shoulder during an accident April 15 while motocross training in Pesaro in Italy. The accident occurred before Round 2 of the 2010 MotoGP season in Jerez, but Rossi still managed a third-place finish behind Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and race winner and teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
This was Rossi’s first injury of the 2010 MotoGP season, preceding his horrific accident during practice in Mugello. During that wreck, Rossi broke his leg and missed that race and the subsequent three. This was the Rossi failed to start an event in his professional racing career. If he started at Mugello, it would have been his 231st consecutive start across all classes.
On top of the broken tibia, Rossi soon learned the shoulder injury appeared worse than expected; Rossi injured a tendon during the MX wreck, but never had any treatment.
Rossi finished the 2010 MotoGP season in third place overall, and has joined the Ducati Team. Rossi will be teammates with Nicky Hayden. During the traditional post-season tests at Valencia, Rossi could only manage 10th fastest on the first day, and 15th fastest on the second day aboard the Ducati GP11.
