Miguel Oliveira’s “tough December”: “I also had arm pump surgery”

After finishing the 2023 MotoGP season with yet another injury, Miguel Oliveira has revealed he decided to use the enforced time off to also undergo arm pump surgery.

The satellite Aprilia rider broke his right shoulder blade when he clipped factory Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro in the penultimate (Qatar) Sprint race of the season.

That injury followed hip ligament damage sustained when he was hit by Marc Marquez at Portimao, then a dislocated and fractured left shoulder when he was brought down by Fabio Quartararo’s bike at Jerez.

But the shoulder blade injury was the most substantial time-wise, with Ducati’s Enea Bastianini needing two months to overcome similar damage.

As such, while Oliveira has tested the condition of his shoulder with a street bike at Portimao, he won’t know for sure until he rides the new Trackhouse-run 2024 RS-GP at Sepang early next month.

“I [also] had arm pump surgery at the end of November, while I was recovering from the shoulder blade injury,” Oliveira said. “So it was a tough December, but I could manage to do good training and have a good recovery.

“I already did three days of riding at Portimao and everything looked OK. But I rode my Aprilia RSV4, which is quite different from the MotoGP bike. So until I get my real bike I will not know for sure. But for the moment, from these three days, I felt OK

“Now I'm really looking forward to Sepang to get this feeling back and see how I am in reality.”

Oliveira: Sprints resulted in more stress

While Oliveira was responsible for the Qatar incident, for which a long lap penalty will carry over to 2024, he had been the innocent victim at Portimao and Jerez - in a season in that saw at least one full-time rider missing from each of the 20 grands prix.

“It's tough for a rider who is a playing for a position to tell him to brake earlier or to be more careful and not overtake in the first few corners or the first two laps,” Oliveira said of efforts to reduce accidents. “But I think every one of us got a little bit better by the end of the season. So let's see [for 2024]. 

"I think everything is experience. Unfortunately, last year, the experience of having the sprint in every Grand Prix weekend resulted in more stress for every rider, especially mentally.

“For sure, as a MotoGP rider, I would love to have a weekend format with less sprint races,” he added, echoing similar comments by fellow riders.

“I agree with Miguel, the big problem was to understand the sprint race and the new schedule,” said team-mate Raul Fernandez, who added that the frequency of arm pump problems may also have been related to the intense schedule.

The Spaniard, who underwent arm pump surgery last May, said: “I saw a lot of riders with arm pump problems. I think this year will be easier because almost everybody will understand the [Sprint] schedule. We also hope we have less injuries.

“But anyway, you never know, especially at the beginning [of the season], when everybody wants to push too much, and in the sprints you have to be really controlled because the season is so long.”

MotoGP is planning a record 22 rounds in 2024, although financial doubts are being cast over the Argentine round.