MotoGP | Rins stops with fever: he won’t race at Misano

He gritted his teeth and held on as long as he could, but Alex Rins surrendered to the fever. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix ends today, a day early with respect to the end of the weekend for the Yamaha rider, who had already been forced to stop in the afternoon session yesterday due to the fever that had arisen during the day.

Rins had gone to Misano for the second of the two events in Romagna, but completed a total of 16 laps throughout the weekend. Only 3 laps in the morning due to a high fever that arrived in the morning, which prevented him from going out on track in the decisive session on Friday afternoon. Without a time in the tests that decide whether or not he goes directly to Q2, the Spaniard was forced to go through Q1, but was not even able to go out on track.

The Yamaha rider tried to check his physical condition by completing 13 laps in FP2 this morning, but his M1 remained stationary in the garage in qualifying. No laps for Rins, who decided to raise the white flag by stopping and ending his weekend today. The decision was made in agreement with the team and with Dr. Charte, who visited him and advised him to rest to focus on recovery in view of Indonesia. Next weekend he will fly to Mandalika, where the goal is to return to the top, but for this he will need to stop this weekend.

“This morning I felt much better and I wanted to try to get on the bike and go on the track,” Rins explained. “Unfortunately, I immediately realized that I was still not well, because I was struggling to breathe. I wanted to finish the session, but immediately after I had a visit from Dr. Charte who advised me not to get on the bike again and to undergo treatment to be 100% ready for Indonesia. Obviously I am very sorry not to be able to race in Misano, but I will do everything I can to recover as soon as possible.”

Massimo Meregalli, Team Director, is disappointed by Alex Rins’ withdrawal from the weekend, but is certain that it is better to let the flu pass in order to be fit in Indonesia: “Unfortunately, Alex is suffering from a bad flu. Yesterday we decided to postpone his work for the practice session to FP2 today. This morning he tried to ride again, but following the advice of Dr. Charte, we decided to withdraw Alex from the Emilia-Romagna GP to allow him to be fit for the next race weekend in Mandalika. It is a shame and we are all sorry for Alex. He had prepared well for this GP during the Misano tests, but he arrived here with his morale at rock bottom and we could not do anything. We remain positive and next week we will start from scratch”.