Ducati MotoGP rider gives recovery update after leg break

Fermin Aldeguer is set to miss the opening race of the MotoGP season in Thailand after breaking his femur.

Aldeguer suffered a fracture to his femur earlier in January and was already confirmed to miss the opening test of the year in Sepang, which takes place next week on 3–5 February.

The Spanish rider was also unable to attend today’s (31 January) Gresini Racing team launch, but joined the event via video call.

Speaking to MotoGP.com’s Jack Appleyard, who hosted the Gresini event in Kuala Lumpur, Aldeguer confirmed that he does not expect to be back riding before the Brazilian MotoGP in March.

“Unfortunately, I cannot [be] there [Kuala Lumpur], but the most important thing is my femur recovery, it’s going well,” Fermin Aldeguer said.

“Day-by-day I feel better, always closer to arrive on the bike. 

“But for now it’s time to stay at home and continue with the recovery and look at my bike on a screen.”

He added that he hopes to return “as soon as possible, but in this moment I can’t say one date, one race. 

“For sure, I have some goals on time to arrive, I want to [be] in Brazil or maybe in Austin, but we have to wait for all the exams, how I feel with my leg, and after this we come back.”

Aldeguer’s injury comes ahead of his second season as a MotoGP rider and one in which expectations were rising after he won the Indonesian Grand Prix in his rookie year.

A lack of preseason testing has been a major setback for multiple riders in recent years, including serial Sepang test crasher Raul Fernandez, Franco Morbidelli who missed the 2024 preseason after crashing while training in Portimao, and Jorge Martin who lost almost all of last year’s preseason – and then much of the season itself – after crashing in the opening official test in Malaysia.