Man is the only animal that trips twice on the same stone and Aleix Espargaro hit the same stone as Alex Rins two years ago, when the then Suzuki rider fell on the Barcelona circuit while riding a bike and he fumbled with his phone.
Rins lost his home race and now Aleix Espargaro has put Aprilia’s home race at serious risk by doing exactly the same thing, fiddling with his mobile phone while pedaling around the Italian circuit on Thursday, a crash and subsequent injury that has not been publicized on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix until of course the thing was discovered.
“It was a huge bullshit, one of the biggest in my sporting career. I think that for an athlete to fall in training and get hurt is part of the game. But not on the Thursday of the most special Grand Prix of the year for Aprilia to have used that fucking cell phone. It was a huge bullshit, I felt really bad, I apologized a hundred times to the team,” Aleix explained on Friday at Mugello, at the end of the first day of the Italian GP, in which he still managed to finish in ninth place and enter Q2 directly.
“My whole back and arms are burned from abrasions, and this doesn’t hurt much. But my (right) heel is also full of blood, it hurts like hell, much more than when I hurt myself at Silverstone. With Dr. Angel Charte we tried to extract as much blood as possible, they infiltrated me, but I can’t use the rear brake. I have to put my foot on the footpeg only with the toe and I can’t brake, so it’s very difficult to ride well. I hope to improve and see if I can do better on Sunday” added the Catalan.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
To understand the dynamics, Aleix went out for a ride at Mugello on Thursday, and halfway down the straight, looking at his phone, he crashed.
“I was talking and looking… a mistake. I had actually prepared a route to go out on the mountain roads, but there was a lot of fog and I opted to stay on the circuit, to be safer, but I was focused on my mobile.”
The truth is that Thursday afternoon Aleix did not explain the incident….
“I don’t know how the journalists found out, I guess the team told them. I didn’t want to say anything, but I have a lot of pain in my foot and I see that I have a limp and can’t walk, so there was nothing to gain to say it, even if it is clear that I am in a bad way”.
The stupid injury comes just when three races in a row are expected, Italy, Germany and Holland, without breaks.
“I don’t think it will complicate the hat-trick, I hope it gets better little by little. I’m going to have an MRI on Monday to see if I have anything else. I thought the infiltration would help me a little more, but it didn’t: in the Right corners I couldn’t drive, I crashed because I couldn’t drive Right corners I couldn’t drive, I crashed because I couldn’t… In the afternoon I didn’t improve much, it limits me a lot, I can’t brake and I see the stars. The flying lap went like this, I went fast, but I lose time because I don’t use the rear brake,” he said.
“When I ride on the street I never answer the phone, but on the circuit I thought nothing would happen, I was distracted. What hurts me the most is the sense of shame with the team. It’s an unacceptable mistake, so I gave everything despite the pain to do the lap and move on to Q2”.
“The truth is that Aprilia didn’t tell me anything. Massimo Rivola told me he had a problem with the president, but he didn’t tell me anything. It was already a long time since he had seen how messed up I was. I was wrong, I made a mistake and I will do everything to have a good race on Sunday” said the driver from Granollers.
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Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
