MotoGP star Pecco Bagnaia Undergoes Surgery After crushed under rival’s bike in horror crash

1. MotoGP star Pecco Bagnaia crushed under rival’s bike in horror crash

MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia said he was in “quite a lot” of pain after falling underneath rival Alex Marquez’s bike in a “nasty” incident at the Aragon Grand Prix

There were only six laps left of the Aragon Grand Prix when Bagnaia was involved in the incident with Alex Marquez. Both came off their bikes as they went shoulder-to-shoulder at turn 13 as Bagnaia attempted to move past the Spaniard and into third.

Marquez’s bike landed on top of the Italian and both of them slid across the hard gravel at high speed. But though they both took their time to get to their feet, they managed to avoid serious injury.

Bagnaia underwent a full medical check-up but his Ducati team confirmed that no fractures had been detected. But in his post-race interview he said: “I don’t feel very good – my neck is in pain, quite a lot. But it could have been worse, so it’s okay.

“About the incident, I don’t need to speak too much – I think it’s quite clear what happened. When we started changing direction, I was in front. I didn’t cross the line like I was alone, I knew he was there and I knew that my speed was enough to be in front of him easily.

The worst of all, what makes me most angry is the data. The telemetry reveals that, after the contact, [Marquez] went from accelerating 40 percent to 60 percent. It’s dangerous to race with someone who does these things. Normally, one tries to avoid contact, although the data shows that there are people who do not see it that way.”

Marquez, though, had a very different view of the incident and snapped back: “Nothing is going to change what happened – if anyone could avoid contact it was him, who knew I was there. I had no knowledge that [Bagnaia] was on the outside.

“The only thing I told the race direction members is that, if he had left a little more space between us and had not traced to the inside, nothing would have happened.”

Despite both drivers alleging that the other was at fault, the MotoGP stewards decided to take no further action against either. While it was despair for one Marquez, there was joy for the other as Alex’s brother Marc won the race..