Valentino Rossi will need to rest for “30 to 40 days” according to the doctor that operated on the MotoGP rider’s broken leg in the early hours of Friday morning.
Rossi sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg in a motocross accident in Italy on Thursday, and he underwent a one-hour operation from 2-3am on Friday to have a metal pin inserted.
Dr Raffaele Pascarella described the procedure as “perfectly successful”.
“First I want to say that Valentino is fine and this is the most important thing for us all,” he added, speaking in a press conference on Friday.
“I think he will certainly have to rest for 30 to 40 days, and then we will evaluate together in the next few weeks how to proceed.”
MotoGP has two races in the next 40 days – at Misano and Aragon – while its flyaway triple-header of Motegi, Phillip Island and Sepang commences with the Japanese GP on October 15.
While the injury has been sustained to the same leg Rossi broke in a crash at Mugello in 2010, Dr Pascarella said that would have no effect as the bone would have healed within 4-5 months first time around, even though the fracture to the tibia was “very close” to the previous break.
“It’s not a bad thing to have done it on the same leg, it’s a different clinical story,” he added.
Rossi is currently fourth in what was being touted as a five-way MotoGP title fight this year, trailing points leader Andrea Dovizioso by 26 points.