Valentino Rossi puts his body to the test at a Ducati test in Misano

Yesterday rider Valentino Rossi wanted to put himself to the test at the Misano circuit, and carried out a private test with a Ducati 1198 to check how his shoulder is physically holding up and whether he is regaining the feeling on the bike, all in preparation for the official MotoGP test at Sepang.

Il Dottore wanted to see how the recovery of his shoulder was progressing before arriving at the Malaysian circuit, which is why, one week before the official MotoGP test, he decided to try himself out at Misano following the operation he underwent in that area last November.

Since the World Championship regulations do not allow riding the MotoGP prototypes, he had to ride a fantastic Ducati 1198 so as not to break the championship restrictions.

The rider hit the track at around 14:00 in fairly low weather conditions, as the temperature recorded on the track did not exceed 10ºC ambient and 15ºC at the circuit. Even so, the Italian went out to see how he was feeling, although beforehand he met with a technical team from the Italian brand.

Next, don’t miss Rossi’s statements:

First of all, thanks to Filippo (Preziosi) and to Ducati, who organised this test. On track, what we expected was more or less confirmed: the shoulder still hurts, especially under braking.

The movements are stable enough and the stamina isn’t bad either, but apart from that, it still hurts a lot.

Let’s hope it improves a little in the coming days before the Malaysia test. Once we’re there, we will work on the riding position and make an effort to get the most out of the situation and gather important information with the Desmosedici, even though I’m not at full fitness.

Today I completed 25 laps with the 1198 Superbike, which is a kind of “historic” Ducati bike: it’s beautiful and fast. I enjoyed it!

We will keep an eye on Valentino Rossi.