Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales underwent a profitable surgical procedure on Tuesday to take away a free screw from his shoulder.
Vinales was pressured to withdraw from final weekend’s MotoGP US Grand Prix following Friday follow because of extreme ache, amid an already troublesome begin to the 2026 season.
Talking in Austin, he revealed {that a} screw inserted into his left shoulder after his Sachsenring crash in 2025 had grow to be displaced, requiring a minor corrective process.
After taking an early flight from Texas, Vinales visited the Hospital of Sassuolo in Italy on Tuesday, the place he was handled by a workforce led by physician Giuseppe Porcellini.
The operation was profitable, with the 31-year-old posting an image of the eliminated screw on social media.
“Effectively… that already feels higher,” he wrote. “The screw is out and surgical procedure went effectively. Large because of Dr Porcellini, Dr Padolino and Dr Giorgini for caring for me.
“Now it’s time to give attention to restoration and are available again at 100%. Comeback loading.”
Regardless of having excessive expectations from his second season aboard the KTM RC16, Vinales failed to attain some extent within the opening trio of races, at the same time as team-mate Enea Bastianini bagged a podium and Pedro Acosta persistently completed on the entrance with the manufacturing unit workforce.
His outcomes up to now in 2026 are a far cry from the shape he confirmed within the early a part of 2026, when he emerged as KTM’s prime performer throughout its two groups.
Vinales pursued a distinct growth path to different KTM riders within the three flyaway races this yr, together with working a novel chassis. He was contemplating aborting that strategy earlier than damage pressured him out of the US GP.
Whereas he initially dismissed the damage as an element, having felt comfy on the bike throughout testing, he admitted in Austin that “there will be just one purpose” for his lack of outcomes.
Vinales shall be aiming to return to motion on the Spanish Grand Prix on 25-26 April, with the postponed Qatar spherical creating an prolonged hole within the MotoGP calendar.
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