MotoGP, Crutchlow: “I hope I can race. I’ve had problems after the surgery.”

Cal Crutchlow took advantage of the two-week break not to relax, but to undergo surgery. The LCR team’s rider unfortunately has a long relationship with compartment syndrome and, this time, his surgery was more invasive than usual. The doctors gave him the okay to try to race in Misano. But what will happen once he rides? He’ll figure it out tomorrow.

"I don’t remember how many times I was operated for this problem. I think the last was in 2014,”  Cal explained. “Before this season, I no longer had problems, but I suffered in Brno, then in the second race in Austria. The tests showed that my muscle was greatly compressed. So I talked about it with Lucio Cecchinello, Alberto Puig, and Dr. Mir, and we agreed to operate after the GP in Austria .”

It was also the only time Crutchlow was able to have a two-week break in a highly compressed championship.

"It depends on how your body reacts. It can take a few days,”  he continued. “My arm muscle was really damaged. They had to open the sheath. The last rider who had this kind of surgery was Pedrosa in 2015, and he stopped for six weeks. I’ll try to race after two .”

He didn’t hedge his bets regarding the chance that he’ll make it.

“I hope to race, but I don’t know what'll happen,”  he admitted. “The problem is that fluid continues to come out, which is good, but not when riding a bike, and there’s no way to stop it. I basically have a hole in the scar that it comes out of. I can see my muscle. The internal damage was significant."

This explains a lot about Crutchlow’s difficulties in the last few races.

“Everyone was asking me why I wasn’t getting good results. Maybe now they’re beginning to understand it. If you want, tomorrow I’ll show you the hole where the liquid comes out from, or I could have the next surgery live,”  he said jokingly. “Unfortunately, after this kind of surgery, the body can react in different ways, and my arm has fifteen years of racing on my shoulders. In these weeks, I did everything I could. I feel good physically. We’ll see what'll happen on the bike.”