MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has been forced to miss Saturday’s Iveco TT Assen because of a broken left collarbone. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider picked up the injury after suffering a high-speed crash in Thursday afternoon practice.

Caught out by standing water, Lorenzo was launched over the front end of his bike before landing heavily on his left shoulder. The accident occurred at the rapid Hoge Heide right-hander which leads towards Ramshoek and the Geert Timmer chicane at the end of the legendary Assen lap.

Having been transported to the circuit Medical Centre by ambulance, Lorenzo was given painkillers before his broken collarbone was confirmed. He will now spend 12 hours under observation at Assen hospital, where CT scans will be conducted, before returning to Barcelona for surgery on either Saturday night or Sunday morning.


“Jorge has suffered an accident at over 200 kilometres an hour and the obvious injury at this point is a broken left clavicle,” explains Dr. Xavier Mir. “However, as this was a significant accident, we have to take into account that there could also be head, thoracic or abdominal injuries. For now, we have taken him to hospital in Assen where CT scans will be carried out in those three areas to rule out any further injuries. It would also be a prudent move to observe him over 12 hours to make sure he can be treated by the appropriate parties when he arrives in Barcelona tomorrow.”

In November 2009, Lorenzo underwent a small operation for the removal of a titanium plate from the same collarbone. This had been fitted following a crash in the 250 race at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2005, after which his shoulder was injured again in a Valencia off-season testing accident.

Lorenzo had headed into this race weekend off the back of consecutive race victories in the Italian and Catalan Grands Prix and is second in the Riders’ Championship, just seven points behind leader Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team).



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