It was a year of ups and downs for the Italian rider, more psychologically than in terms of results, because his conditions, both physical and technical, have never been the best.
After finishing second in 2020 on an M1 that was theoretically inferior to his teammates in Yamaha, Franco Morbidelli found himself even more alone in 2021, as the Japanese manufacturer doubled its efforts in the factory team, putting a little in apart from the Sepang Racing Team (SRT), its satellite formation.
It soon became clear that Yamaha’s priorities would not make it easier, and the situation worsened further when he had no choice but to undergo surgery on his left knee, which had been bothering him for some time.
The anterior cruciate ligament operation was carried out on June 25, the Friday of the Dutch Grand Prix, and then forced him to miss five races, returning to the first of two Misano events, almost three months later.
When he returned to the track, the Roman rider moved on to defend the colors of the Yamaha Factory Team, paired with Fabio Quartararo, taking the place left vacant by Maverick Vinales, who severed his ties with the Iwata manufacturer with almost a year and a half in advance.
Despite having the best material available at that point, the physical limitations, especially in terms of mobility of the left knee, and the lack of experience on the new bike prevented him from offering good performance: since his return, he has only scored points in two of the five races disputed, with 11th place in the Valencia round as the best result.
With the conclusion of the Jerez test, which closed the season, Morbidelli admitted that during the winter he intends to focus on getting his knee back to 100% in time for next February’s Sepang tests. His determination on this front is such that he has decided to give up the traditional 100 km that takes place every winter at Valentino Rossi’s Ranch.
“Rehabilitation will be the main goal of the winter for me. I will try to recover all the functionality of my knee, and we will see if I can. There should be no problems in this sense,” said Morbidelli, who has always accepted the necessary time. to recover from such a complicated operation.
“Before the operation, the knee had no ligaments, so it was free. I just had to be careful not to make certain movements, maybe when I was playing football. But it’s a time-consuming operation and now I feel worse than before. Worse than before. at Le Mans for example. I hope that in time everything will go back to normal. There shouldn’t be any problems anyway, “concluded the # 21.
#Morbidelli #winter #rehabilitation