Baz set to miss Catalan GP

Surgery on his injured right foot went well, but Loris Baz will sit out round seven in order to fully recover.

Avintia Racing rider Loris Baz went under the knife to fix his right foot fractures on Wednesday the 26th of May 2016 in Switzerland. Baz was injured after crashing during the start of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello last week. The surgery carried out by Dr. Adrien Ray, Dr. Finn Mahler’s team foot specialist, at the hospital La Tour Meyrin, Geneve, was successful, despite a fracture being more complicated than it seemed at Mugello’s hospital. Dr. Ray needed one hour and a half to fix the fractures with three titanium plates, plus two nails and fifteen screws.

The bad news is that the estimated rehab process will be long, four to six weeks, so it will be impossible for Loris Baz to get on the bike for the next round of the World Championship scheduled at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya. He left the hospital on Thursday, but Baz will have to wait one week before starting to work with the physiotherapist. Even so, the 23 year old Frenchman is eager to come back for the Dutch TT at Assen in four weeks time.

The team will announce Baz's replacement in the coming days.

Loris Baz: “It’s a shame, because the injury is quite big, not in terms of health risk, but it will take some time to heal. Is not just one broken bone, are all foot, because the one that is not broken, the ligament does so. It was a tricky injury but I’m happy with the great job made by Dr. Mahler’s team. Unfortunately miracles don’t exist, and my bones won’t heal in one week, so it’s impossible to be fit for Barcelona. Want to be back in Assen, and we’ll work together to make it happen. Now I’ll go home and rest for a couple of days, because I can’t do any exercise for one week. Then I’ll start to work with the physio, also trying to keep my physical condition. I wan to say big thank you to my team, Bocha, Raul, my mechanics, also Hector, who is always calling asking for news. Is difficult when you are at the hospital when you want to ride your bike, but when you know the team you have, that believes and support you, is something I really appreciate. Of course I want to thank my family because they have been with me every single minute. And also big thank you to the staff of Mugello’s hospital, the MotoGP Medical Team and the Clinica Mobile, because they did a great job to set the dislocations.”