Rossi: 'There was a jolt and my leg broke'

Injured nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has confirmed that, on paper, Motegi is the most likely venue for his MotoGP comeback.

But the Italian 'will try' and be fit for Aragon, which starts just 22 days - compared with 42 days for Motegi - after he broke his right tibia and fibula in an enduro training accident.

“A lot depends on how my leg is," GPOne.com reports Rossi as saying, in an extract of a TV interview to be broadcast on Sky Sports Italy this evening.

"In my head, I was thinking Motegi, but it's hard to make predictions. We need to see how my leg is, how it reacts, whether we can push it a little, move it, whether it swells, we need to see how I am.

"Last time [after breaking his leg in 2010] I was back on track after 40 or 41 days and so with that kind of time frame we're looking at Motegi.

"Aragon is long before that, because it would be three weeks after the accident. So it will be really difficult, but we'll try. Every day we try, we work and then we'll see”.

Rossi, whose injury means he will definitely miss his home event at Misano this weekend, also gave details of exactly how the accident happened.

“I went for an enduro ride with my friends and the other Academy riders. It's a ride I've been doing since I was 18… it's something I've done 200 times. We were almost at the end, on quite a steep downhill. We were going slow, in second gear, but there was a rocky step.

"As I took it, the handlebar moved, as if I'd hit a stone. I went down on my right foot, but there was a jolt and when my foot went down with my body weight and that of the bike behind it, my leg broke. I was only about 400 metres from the end."

The Movistar Yamaha is currently fourth in the world championship, 26 points behind Andrea Dovizioso, with six rounds remaining.