Aldeguer ruled out of Assen MotoGP with back injury
Gresini Ducati's Fermin Aldeguer has been ruled out of the rest of the Dutch Grand Prix MotoGP weekend with a fractured vertebra after his crash in Friday practice.
Both Aldeguer and team-mate Alex Marquez fell at the Duikersloot right-hander on Friday afternoon and required assistance away from the scene and medical checks afterwards.
Gresini announced on Saturday morning that Aldeguer had suffered a fracture to the T7 vertebra in his crash, which worsened when he began tumbling violently as he hit the gravel trap.
He will be assessed in the coming days to determine when he can ride again, with just one more MotoGP round - the German GP in a fortnight - before the summer break.
Aldeguer's second MotoGP season had already been compromised by a broken leg suffered in a training accident at the start of January, which ruled him out of all of pre-season testing and the opening round.
Marquez must also clear medical checks before he will be allowed to participate in Saturday morning practice and qualifying.
He is attempting to complete his first full racing weekend since suffering neck and collarbone injuries in his frightening Catalan GP crash a month ago.
He returned for last weekend's Czech GP but withdrew after qualifying.
Gresini said Marquez had escaped his Assen Friday crash with "a contusion to his right shoulder and abrasions to his left arm" and there was no further damage spotted on a shoulder x-ray.
"Luckily I’m fine, just a few scratches but everything is OK," said Marquez on Friday night.
"The collarbone is fine, now we’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning."
The Friday afternoon practice session was red-flagged for Marquez's crash, and works Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia expressed some surprise that the same hadn't been done for Aldeguer's accident.
"I was expecting a red flag after the crash of Aldeguer, because it took a lot of time to remove the bike and to transport Aldeguer out of the track. But they didn't give the red," said Bagnaia.
"Then with Alex, it was correct to put out the red flag, because the crash they had - both Gresini riders - was huge."
