Lorenzo to miss Sepang after wrist surgery

Jorge Lorenzo's Repsol Honda preparations have been dealt a blow after it was confirmed that the triple MotoGP champion will miss the opening 2019 test at Sepang due to his recent left-wrist injury.

Lorenzo broke the small but notoriously slow-to-heal scaphoid bone during a training fall just outside of Verona, Italy. 

According to Repsol Honda, 'Lorenzo elected to have surgery' which took place today (Monday) and involved 'a titanium screw inserted via a minimally invasive technique'.

The Spaniard will remain in hospital for 24 hours before attending the team's 2019 launch in Madrid on Wednesday. Physiotherapy can begin after four days.

However, 'due to the nature of the injury, Jorge Lorenzo and the Repsol Honda Team have elected for Lorenzo to miss the Sepang Test'.

That leaves only the second and final pre-season test, in Qatar from February 23-25, before Lorenzo's Honda debut at the season-opening night race on March 10.

The former Ducati rider missed four of the last five rounds of 2018 after suffering a crack to the radius bone of the same left wrist, when he was thrown off by a technical problem during practice at Buriram.

Lorenzo's training accident means both Repsol Honda riders are currently recovering from surgery, with reigning five-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez undergoing a shoulder operation in early December.

And with LCR's Cal Crutchlow still healing from last season's serious foot injuries, team-mate Takaaki Nakagami is currently the only fully fit Honda MotoGP rider. Crutchlow is aiming to ride at Sepang, which would be his first laps since Phillip Island in October.

Lorenzo was world champion for Yamaha in 2010, 2012, and 2015, before taking three race wins for Ducati last season.

A victory for Honda would make Lorenzo only the fifth rider in history to win premier-class races for three different manufacturers, after Mike Hailwood, Randy Mamola, Eddie Lawson and Loris Capirossi.

Marquez and Lorenzo were a close third (+0.025) and fifth (+0.160s) fastest, respectively, during the final MotoGP test of 2018 at Jerez.