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On Friday in Buriram the engines will be turned on for the first time on the MotoGP 2025 championship. After intense weeks of development, the riders will be called upon once again to work and perfect themselves with one goal: racing. Among them will be Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is returning from a nasty collarbone injury sustained on the very first day of testing during a wheelie that went wrong.
For the Roman rider in force at VR46, who will be on track just seventeen days after the collarbone operation ( the second in a few months after the shoulder injury) the first in Thailand will be a sort of leap in the dark. Not only in terms of development, but also physically, having had no opportunity to ride since his injury. The Ducati on which he will ride will be the third factory bike on the grid, but the Roman will have to rely, at least for the first race, on the work done by Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. On the reliability of his own bike he clearly has no doubts, while from the physical point of view only the first free practice sessions will give a more complete picture of the rider's real condition.
Motivation, however, is not lacking; it is often said that MotoGP riders are not human, they ride bikes to the limit on the edge of hundredths, and many of them can boast more than one scar. Like the conspicuous one that stands out from under Fabio's shirt, who with a smile then shows reporters some pictures of his collarbone surgery, and that really puts those 'only' seventeen days into perspective. Over expectations realism then prevails, the competitive spirit is intact, the body less so, like that '0%' shoulder. The priority will be to see his physical condition in the race and to find those sensations that only MotoGP can give.
"I'm fine, I'm motivated, I'm coming to this first race more trained and I can't wait to get back on the track - Fabio tells us - but the left shoulder is not at 100% in fact, I would say it's the only part of the body at 0% physical condition because it suffered the winter stop of the first operation and after that there was also the second injury at the tests. So this weekend will be my first real contact with the bike, where I will get to do some laps, I have not had any opportunity to ride since after the operation to speed up the healing process."
Fabio then went back to his accident that occurred during testing.
"We were unlucky, I had a technical problem, an unexpected behavior of the bike due to some tests we were doing on the brakes. It was a mix of causes, the line is thin between being great and stupid. It happened during a wheelie, and when I came back to the ground the front wheel was locked and I slipped. I passed for stupid and I also got hurt, and we missed so many days of testing and it was a pity because Ducati made an incredible effort this winter to approach testing in the best way, and we threw away this chance. Now I'm motivated, we've put a stone on what happened, and we've been working a lot of precision with the shoulder to get back on track as soon as possible. I take this opportunity to thank the team that from the beginning supported me by analyzing in detail what happened."
In your absence, Ducati has opted for the GP24, how did you welcome this news? The last bike you rode in Malaysia was the latest 2025 specification.
"Yes, I rode with the last specification at the tests, and here I will face the race with the last specification for the season, which will be slightly different from the one I tested previously. Clearly at this time I will not have much decision-making influence on that. Certainly during testing you try many things, and I think both Bagnaia and Marquez have chosen the best package. I raced for three years with an older bike struggling with more advanced bikes, this year I will have the factory package and I am convinced that Ducati has delivered us in the box the best package they have available to face the season, it is the same package as Pecco and Marc, so I am happy with this opportunity."
Physically do you feel ready to face the race?
"I am confident," the Roman continued, "I will be on the bike 17 days after the operation, it is a good window of time to start again, although I will lack some strength in my left arm, but I am not worried. Tonight I will have another medical checkup, and tomorrow I will test the shoulder for the first time on the bike. On the one hand we are lucky because there are a lot of right turns, so I will use my right arm a lot to brake. The bad luck though is that the position on the bike will be such that it will stress the shoulder, unfortunately in the injury I broke my collarbone in a bad spot and I have some discomfort. So I feel ready and I want to try to give my best, but without any particular pressure."
Since you couldn't even train so as not to stress your shoulder, it looks like you will have to rely on hope.
"It's not about hope, a full recovery from a fracture takes six weeks, and it's been much less than that. The dynamics of the injury itself did not allow me to train to allow for post-surgery recovery, it's not doing 20 or 30 push-ups that prepares you or makes you stronger to take on races. You need 1 or 2 months of preparation, training three days at that point is almost pointless."
Has Ducati come to you in any way to help speed up this process?
"Both Ducati and the team have worked hard to be helpful to me. They studied the data from the factory team riders. I think we come ready in the best way available to us despite the few kilometers we've ridden, so I can only thank them."
Having missed several days of testing, your first race weekend will be particularly intense.
"Being the points in the race, we will have to try to work in that direction obviously, but more than anything it will be important to sew the bike on me and find the MotoGP feeling again because I missed the last two races last year, missed testing and then only had one day of testing, so I have been riding really little in the last 3-4 months. There will be 44 races this season and this weekend I'm not saying it will be a test but I will have to approach it with more clarity and coolness to get back to being fast."
What are your realistic expectations for this weekend?
"To finish both races, do many laps, understand the bike and find my riding style again, the way I approached the first day of testing."
In your current condition, are you mentally prepared for the possibility that riders you would have faced before with no problem could overtake you?
"If I had that mentality, it would have been better to stay home at that point. I will try to do my best, then it is clear that we are the best riders in the world, and among them there are those who arrive in better physical condition than me," the Roman rider concluded.
