MotoGP: Hard road back for Crutchlow

It’s now been nearly three months since Cal Crutchlow suffered a horrific high-speed crash at Phillip Island’s turn one, getting pushed wide by high wings onto wet kerbs at the fast corner. Falling and suffering a bad multiple fracture to his right ankle, it’s been a long road back to fitness for the LCR Honda rider since then.

Still suffering the aftereffects of the break and subsequent surgery, he’s avoided the British winter by heading to his home in the mountains outside San Diego, he told MCN when we headed out to California to visit that things could have been a lot worse given just how bad the break was.

“I knew at the start that it was a really bad injury, and my surgeon told me afterwards how close they were to fusing it because of how bad the fracture was. It’s called a pilon fracture and it’s basically the worst you can have. They had to reconstruct the talus, and that’s what they were most worried about.

“That part has gone really well though. I’ve got two plates on my tibia, one on the inside and one on the centre, but they didn’t plate my fibula and that’s what seems to be causing the pain I’m suffering from now. But there just wasn’t the room to plate it too.

“It’s been a hard three months since I did it. I’ve had big injuries before but nothing to this scale – I know some people in motorbike racing who have retired because of this injury. There’s been points where honestly, I thought there thinking I’d never be able to ride again. But I always had the desire to carry on training, to carry on going to the physio – I had the mental state to stay competitive and want to race in MotoGP again. I never threw the towel in and thought it was done. “

To read the full interview with Crutchlow, pick up today Wednesday 23rd January’s Motor Cycle News.