Pecco Bagnaia on alert after the crash: "Something's not right

The MotoGP test in Catalunya was anything but a quiet day for Pecco Bagnaia. The Ducati rider is dealing with the aftereffects of Sunday’s race incident, which also involved Johann Zarco and Luca Marini.

For the rider from Piedmont, it may not just be a simple whiplash; his left wrist will also be under medical observation in the coming hours. "The impact with the ground was very hard... I got a good start, but after three laps of the third start I began to feel unwell; I was getting dizzy under braking and I slowed down. Maybe I wasn’t ready for the race, but in the end it went well and I didn’t cause any problems."

The spotlight at the Barcelona GP wasn’t only on the crash between Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez. At Turn 1, Johann Zarco lost control of his Honda RC213V, also involving Luca and Pecco. The French rider’s foot got stuck in Bagnaia’s Ducati. A tremendous scare, made worse by seeing Luca and Pecco on camera desperately calling for help (because they saw Zarco motionless, trapped under the Ducati).

On Sunday, the two-time MotoGP World Champion admitted he suffered whiplash to the neck, which persisted throughout the day. But during Monday’s MotoGP test he felt pain in his left wrist. Pecco Bagnaia rode to the limit, racking up a total of 23 laps, to test what Borgo Panigale had made available to him. At the end of the day, he didn’t even go to the media center to speak with the press. "I might have to get my wrist checked again when I fly home, because I have the feeling something isn’t right. So we’ll try and see," Bagnaia explained on the official MotoGP channel.

Maximum attention is being paid to his health conditions, to avoid issues at the next round in Mugello. "I’ll definitely do a lot of physiotherapy, I’ll focus on the positives and won’t overdo the training, because it could make things worse." In the worst case, Ducati could tackle their home Grand Prix without its two factory riders, with Marc Marquez still not having announced a return date.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia’s race on Catalan soil ended in fifth place, but he was awarded third in the official results. This is due to two penalties applied after the finish. The first is a three-second penalty for Ai Ogura (fourth at the flag) following a collision with Pedro Acosta at the final corner. The second is a 16-second penalty for Joan Mir (second at the finish) for violating the tire pressure regulations.

If you like Corsedimoto’s content you can select it as a preferred source by clicking here