{"id":544635,"date":"2026-03-16T19:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544635\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:23:09","slug":"valentino-rossi-credits-genetic-luck-for-avoiding-common-motogp-affliction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544635\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentino Rossi credits \u201cgenetic luck\u201d for avoiding common MotoGP affliction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Valentino Rossi believes \u201cgenetic luck\u201d allowed him avoid one of MotoGP\u2019s most common rider afflictions.<\/p>\n<p>The constant stress of wrestling a near 300hp machine over a grand prix distance means even the fittest riders routinely go under the knife to address compartment syndrome, or &#8216;arm pump&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Surgery helps combat the nightmare cocktail of forearm pain, numbness and lack of strength by improving blood flow to the affected muscles.<\/p>\n<p>However, one rider who never needed the operation was nine-time world champion, Rossi.<\/p>\n<p>During last September\u2019s Hall of Fame dinner, recently broadcast by MotoGP.com, former rival <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1209\/dani-pedrosa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dani Pedrosa<\/a> asked Rossi if he had ever suffered from arm pump.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZero,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1999\/valentino-rossi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Valentino Rossi <\/a>replied.<\/p>\n<p>A shocked Pedrosa &#8211; who eventually opted for the most extreme form of surgery, removal of the entire forearm muscle fascia, to save his career in early 2015 &#8211; replied: \u201cBut zero, zero?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never had arm pump,\u201d Rossi confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever? What a lucky guy!\u201d smiled Pedrosa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s a great advantage, added Rossi\u2019s former Yamaha team-mate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1558\/jorge-lorenzo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jorge Lorenzo<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Rossi explained: \u201cI&#8217;ve had it a bit with motocross sometimes, but in MotoGP, never.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than arm pump, I would get fatigued. To not have the strength, but [my forearm and hand were working as normal].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my opinion, it\u2019s genetic luck,\u201d continued Rossi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It depends on your genes; how big your forearms are.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was a great luck [for me].\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gng_528753_hires_1600x900.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Dani Pedrosa, 2014 Japanese MotoGP.\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.78\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Dani Pedrosa, 2014 Japanese MotoGP.<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>  Pedrosa: \u201cI was riding with just my left arm\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pedrosa said: \u201cI suffered a lot with arm pump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome years more, some years less, depending on how the bike was behaving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in 2014, I was riding with just my left arm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rossi asked if surgery helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Pedrosa replied that it was only a partial solution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA bit\u2026 In my case, if I did a lot of [weight] training in the gym, it got much worse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I needed to train in the gym because [of my size].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pedrosa retired from MotoGP at the end of 2018 with 31 race wins, making him the most successful rider not to win the premier-class title.<\/p>\n<p>The 40-year-old continues to ride a MotoGP bike as a test rider for KTM and claimed a Sprint podium during his most recent wild-card appearance at Jerez in 2024.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valentino Rossi believes \u201cgenetic luck\u201d allowed him avoid one of MotoGP\u2019s most common rider afflictions. The constant stress&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,26426,20874,806,805,803,804,85,20420],"class_list":["post-544635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dani-pedrosa","tag-jorge-lorenzo","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-valentino-rossi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}