The Gresini Honda rider broke his left femur in two places after tumbling awkwardly in a gravel trap, but is planning to defy medical predictions of a three-month recovery by being back on his
Bridgestone shod RC212V at Brno on August 19 - meaning the loss of just two races.
"It's been a difficult time for me, but life is like this. I can't change the past, but I can change the future," said Elias as he prepared to leave hospital. "I hope I'll recover as soon as possible and be back for the Czech Republic. It will be difficult. The only thing I can do is fight and be strong in my mind. My mentality is to be a world champion one day and I'll fight my best to achieve this.
"The [recovery] process is long, I don't know if it'll be two or three months - I hope one and a half! My priority is recovering as soon as possible."
The 24-year-old Spaniard also admitted he has been touched by the support he has received since his injury, particularly from a certain five-times
MotoGP world champion...
"I received some calls from people that I thought weren't my friends. The support has been incredible and I'd like to say thank you to everybody," said Toni, winner of the 2006 Portuguese Grand Prix. "The best emotion for me was to hear Valentino say what he said after the race."
Elias was heavily criticised by Rossi following their on-track battles earlier this season, but the Italian put that to one side and wished Toni a speedy recovery immediately after taking victory at Assen.
"First I want to say good luck to
Toni Elias," Rossi stated in the Assen podium press conference. "He is a hard, hard rival [smiles] but he has a bad injury so I hope to see him back on the circuit very soon."
