Raul Fernandez "vomited on the bike", cancels summer break

Raul Fernandez made decent early progress to climb from 19th into the points during Sunday’s Italian MotoGP, but the remainder of the race proved a gruelling physical contest.

Peter McLaren

12 Jun 2023

Raul Fernandez, MotoGP sprint race, Italian MotoGP, 10 June

Although the RNF Aprilia was delighted with the results of his post-Jerez arm pump surgery, he had been ill in the run-up to the Mugello weekend, then suffered two heavy falls on Saturday.

After shadowing factory Aprilia star Maverick Vinales through the field for the opening eleven laps, Fernandez’s began to feel tired and then, literally, sick.

"I’m really happy with my arm,” he began. “The best thing that I did was to have surgery.

“But after yesterday's crash, I felt very bad in the race.

"At the beginning I was behind Maverick, Oliveira and we were catching to Aleix on some laps.

“I don't know why, but in the middle of the race, I started to feel very bad, very bad, very bad. I don't know if it’s because of the crash or for the [painkilling] pill but I vomited on the bike.”

Fernandez reached the finish of the 23 laps but faded back to 17th.

“I tried until the end of the race, but I was riding bad. Going wide. My body was not good. I was super tired,” he explained.

“MotoGP is super competitive now. And if you are not at 100% or you don't train at 100%, you will be in the shit.

“On Monday, Tuesday I felt bad at home [with flu]. Then I had two big crashes. I started to take pills. And today I felt bad with my body. Now I feel super tired and I have a headache.”

Raul Fernandez, MotoGP race, Italian MotoGP, 11 June

Fernandez cancels summer break, will train like ‘an animal’

The former Moto2 title runner-up revealed he and RNF are now treating the upcoming events, on consecutive weekends at Sachsenring and Assen, as a kind of pre-season, with the goal of being back to full physical strength after the summer break in Silverstone.

“I want to say sorry to the team, but we will have some opportunities in future and I will tell you now our target is to go to Silverstone 100% because we will have the summer break to prepare very well,” Fernandez said.

“I think the Sachsenring will be a good track for us but the important thing is arrive at Silverstone at 100%. I will prepare like an animal and [hope] not to have these f**king stupid things that meant I couldn't train like normal.

“This is not the pre-season, but we will take it like a pre-season to recover our speed until we arrive to summer break. Then I will not do a summer break. I will go to train and prepare very well for the second part of the year.”

Miguel Oliveira, MotoGP race, Italian MotoGP, 11 June

Team-mate Miguel Oliveira, returning from a dislocated and fractured shoulder at Jerez, crashed out halfway through the grand prix.

“I‘m happy that I was back. It was a weekend where the progression was there. I had speed, I had the pace. I just couldn’t finish the race, which was a shame,” said the Portimao, who qualified 18th and was in 13th when he crashed.

“I saw myself in a position where I could maybe challenge for the top 10 and I was very hopeful I could do it. At the end, this was [only] my second long race this year and I’m happy that I managed to do at least half of it and be competitive.

“The good thing is, we have another race next weekend. Then we can hopefully turn things around and give the whole crew the result that they deserve.”

Oliveira has finished twelfth in thr Sprint when Fernandez was 19th.