Alarm over Joan Mir: mysterious physical collapse, medical tests ahead

Joan Mir prematurely retired from the MotoGP race at Misano, but the situation isn’t clear. Here’s what we know so far.

What’s happening to Joan Mir? This time it’s not about crashes or bike issues, but a mysterious health problem that affected him throughout the MotoGP weekend at Misano, leading to his early withdrawal from the Sunday race. It’s obvious that Mir and his Honda have never clicked, as shown by the many DNFs due to crashes from the very first laps. But when it comes to health, everything else must be set aside. The hope is that the Spaniard can resolve it before the Austrian GP, already scheduled for next weekend.

“I had no energy or strength on the bike.” Those were Joan Mir’s first (premature) post-race words after the San Marino Grand Prix, echoing what he’d said since Friday. “I tried to race, but there was no goal to achieve and I thought staying on track would only make things worse. It’s a really tough moment.” As if the struggles with the RC-V weren’t enough, there’s also this mysterious physical issue… No answers for now, but they need to be found as soon as possible. “We’ll do some medical checks before Austria, let’s see what we can do to get back to normal physical condition as soon as possible.” As mentioned, MotoGP will be back in action already next weekend, and the HRC Honda rider has very little time to figure out what’s going on.

Clearly we hope it’s not as serious as what some of his predecessors faced. Take Nico Terol, the last 125cc world champion, who in Moto2 long suffered from fatigue and malaise before finding the cause (an intolerance to certain dairy products). We can also mention Casey Stoner’s difficulties, who struggled with numerous issues as a rider and only after retirement discovered the cause: chronic fatigue syndrome. Add to that the back problems revealed only recently after surgery to finally resolve the situation. Let’s not forget Jonas Folger, who suddenly, in his rookie MotoGP year, found himself with major problems, until discovering Gilbert’s syndrome which, essentially, shaped his riding career.

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