Casey Stoner is hopeful of riding motorcycles more in 2026 after suffering a setback late in 2025 that has prevented him from getting out on a bike.

Stoner, whose five-year MotoGP career included a 2009 season that saw him miss multiple races through illness, disclosed his chronic fatigue diagnosis in 2020 and has been public on multiple occasions since discussing his experience with the condition, whose inconsistency in the severity of its effects can make it unpredictable and difficult to manage.

Speaking to Crash.net at the end of January, shortly before the release of the Ride 6 videogame in which he has a starring role, Stoner said that he had been cycling and that he’d been happy with his fitness during 2025, but after returning from a trip to Europe he picked up a virus that led to a setback in his health.

“Unfortunately, a few months ago, my health went backwards again, so I haven’t been spending any time on a bike,” he said.

“Before that, I was cycling again and my fitness was– I was very happy with where I was at.

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

“Then all of a sudden, got back from Europe, got a virus, and it sent me back into some chronic fatigue again. 

“So, I had to take a back seat and turn away from the bikes, but hopefully this year we can head in the right direction again and start enjoying bikes a little bit more.”

The Australian made a trip to Italy late in 2024 to ride at the VR46 Motor Ranch owned by Valentino Rossi, as well as at a flat track event during that year’s EICMA show in Milan. The Australian rode a two-stroke Beta, but suffered carpal tunnel while riding.

“It was good,” Stoner said of his time on the Beta at the VR46 ranch.

“We were slowly starting to do a little bit more on bikes and things like that, but I was struggling massively with carpal tunnel. 

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

“I’ve never really had it in my life, I thought it was arm pump, and I thought ‘The more I ride, the better it should get’, and it was just getting worse and worse and worse. 

“So, when I was at Vale’s [Valentino Rossi] ranch I couldn’t do more than four or five corners at a time without my arms just pumping up to the point that I just couldn’t hold on.”

Stoner returned in 2025 and found this time that he had to deal with arm pump, but this was more manageable as, with time on the bike, its effects lessened.

“We went back there this year [2025], it was slightly better and it turned into a little bit more arm pump; so, actually, as the night went on, right as it was time to stop my arms started to feel better and better, so we were doing more consecutive laps. 

“But because I’ve been out of it, because of the health issues, my body is struggling to recover as quickly, so it’s struggling with blood flow in my arms. 

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

“Something that I did for so many years I just stopped cold turkey and basically have done nothing for seven or eight years on a bike, so it’s going to take some time to get the arm strength back.”

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter