Pedro Acosta has been suffering for a year, will have to undergo surgery: the future Ducati rider's condition

Negative epilogue for El Tiburon at the TT Circuit, where he returned to the box early due to a new issue: this time it’s his body.

For Pedro Acosta, Assen was a weekend to forget. Between technical problems with his KTM RC16 and issues with his right hand, he couldn’t achieve the results he hoped for. Even if he didn’t have podium potential, he could still have collected useful points for his world championship standings; instead, he leaves the Netherlands having collected only one in the Sprint.

After the fight with Marc Marquez for fourth place, he noticeably slowed down and on lap 14 of the Dutch GP he returned to the box to retire. Acosta explained what happened: "For about a year I’ve had three fingers that go numb - reports Motosan - and on some circuits it’s better, on others it’s worse. On some I only lose sensitivity, but I know when I pull the lever and I know I have it in my hand. The problem is that today I got to the point where it felt like I didn’t have those three fingers. When I clenched my fist, I couldn’t feel them and I didn’t know where the brake lever was. When I had two lock-ups in the fast corner where Bezzecchi crashed, I told myself that a sixth place wouldn’t save the year, so I decided to retire".

It is carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes tingling, numbness, or even the three fingers of his right hand to fall asleep. Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, which the KTM rider had planned to do after the German Grand Prix: "The idea was to have surgery after the Sachsenring, because I didn’t imagine it would go so badly at Assen. Many times it’s better to stop and then start again".

Considering that Pedro has been dealing with this problem since last year, he’s certainly not riding at his best, net of the limits of his RC16: "On some circuits it affects me - he explains - on others less and on others not at all. It started to bother me more since we have the new fairing, which helps us turn a bit, but the bike moves more on the straight. The test in Brno with the 850 went well and in practice I don’t have problems; it happened to me in the sprint and I managed to finish it. But today when I saw that I was about to run into Marc and that I locked up twice at Turn 15...".

The situation was really complicated in the MotoGP race at Assen, therefore the two-time world champion wisely decided to retire. For a fighter like him it was not easy to choose to give up, but he realized he could be dangerous for himself and for others, and wisely stepped aside. Now the hope is that the operation will allow him to solve the problem and be able to ride at 100% as soon as possible. The GP at the Sachsenring is scheduled for the weekend of July 10–12.

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