After his shoulder injury, Maverick Vinales returns to the MotoGP final in Valencia – almost fully recovered, he reveals what is still causing him problems.
After missing several race weekends due to a shoulder injury sustained at the Sachsenring, Maverick Vinales is back for the MotoGP season finale in Valencia. The Tech3 rider says he feels much better, even if he is not yet 100 percent fit.
“I’m obviously feeling much better than I did at the last race in Mandalika,” Vinales explained on Thursday. “I’ve had enough time to relax and recover. Of course, I’m not 100 percent yet, but I’m not far off.”
The Spaniard has recently been training a lot with smaller motorcycles to test his form. “I have references from the 600 and 1000, and I was competitive in terms of lap times. That’s why I feel ready for this race. Of course, I still have to see what my level is on the MotoGP bike. The performance is completely different, but it was definitely an improvement.“
In his own words, the biggest challenge remains the complete recovery of his tendons. ”They just need a little more time to get used to the unusual positions we take on the MotoGP bike.”
“In everyday life, I feel completely recovered, but on the bike there are still movements where the tendons say, ‘I need a little more time.’ But it’s already much better than before,” the 30-year-old affirms. Sitting at home while he actually felt healthy was therefore frustrating.
“Everything is fine in normal life, but when I’m riding, I still notice that there are areas where I need to improve. But we’re close. I’m gaining more strength every week, and that’s the sign we needed.”
Why he skipped Portimao
His return in Valencia was primarily motivated by sporting reasons. “I really wanted to be back on the bike for the last race here. I feel that I’ve regained my flow and speed, and I wanted to see if that was also the case on the MotoGP bike,” said Vinales.
An earlier comeback in Portimao was deliberately avoided: “We briefly considered starting there, but two race weekends in a row might have been too stressful. So we decided to focus all our energy on Valencia and the subsequent test here.”
During rehab, he mainly worked on strength and mobility. “But my mobility isn’t quite 100 percent yet. It’s difficult to build strength when you can’t perform the movement perfectly. We’re working hard on that, and it’s getting better.” However, he no longer has any limitations on the bike: “Not anymore, no. I can move naturally again on the training bikes.“
”Only when braking hard do I sometimes still feel something in my shoulder area, but with adrenaline, that will hardly matter,” Vinales remains confident.
Vinales praises replacement rider Pol Espargaro
The injury-related break also caused him to lose muscle mass. “I couldn’t train with heavy weights, so I had to work more gently. During the season, I weighed about 67 kilos, but after the injury, I was down to 62 or 63.”
“I’m now back up to 63 or 64 kilos. I feel good, so that shouldn’t be a disadvantage. The biggest problem was the pain in Mandalika—every time I changed direction. The pain inhibited my muscles; I wanted to accelerate, but nothing happened. That’s the biggest difference now.”
Support from the Red Bull Performance Center in Austria also helped him with his recovery. “They have tests that measure not only strength but also neural connection. That was very important. Some muscles were too tense and blocked others.”
“We worked on that, and now I’m much quicker to react, especially on the left side. Before, there was almost no connection. I thought, ‘Go!’, but the muscle didn’t respond. Now it works again,“ explains the Tech3 rider. Vinales also had words of praise for Pol Espargaro, who replaced him during his injury: ”He did a really good job and also took care of my crew. He did really well. Portimao was certainly difficult for him because of the memories, but it was good that he raced there.”
