Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales hopes his lingering MotoGP injury saga will finally turn a decisive corner this Catalan Grand Prix weekend, as he returns to action.<\/p>\n
But he will need to quickly get up to speed to safeguard his MotoGP future, which looks a lot murkier relative to the off-season.<\/p>\n
KTM is widely believed to have got cold feet, due to his injury struggles, over promoting him to a works seat next year, so a 2027 seat that was once earmarked for Vinales appears to be gone now – and the rest of the landscape is unclear.<\/p>\n
And as Vinales himself acknowledges, his place in that landscape is determined on him proving he can return to true fitness.<\/p>\n
The injury<\/p>\n
Previously a MotoGP ‘ironman’ who only missed grands prix for non-injury related reasons, Vinales has been sidelined for 11 separate grands prix since damaging his left shoulder at the Sachsenring in July last year.<\/p>\n
He though himself physically ready for the start of the season but went under the knife again in late March to remove a displaced screw – which he is now convinced is the culprit for his bad form to start the campaign (and the mismatch between his pre-season performances and actual race weekend pace) and which he traces back to a crash during the Sepang test.<\/p>\n
“It’s good that we decided to make the second operation because it was really necessary,” said Vinales.<\/p>\n
“Taking out the screw and cleaning all the joints was mandatory. If not now, in the summer. So it was a good moment to do it now.<\/p>\n
“For me the biggest issue I had was that Friday, FP1 was good, and then practice by practice I had less power, less mobility, and when I finished the weekend, the arm was completely destroyed. And for us it was the screw, clearly it was the screw. And all the scar tissue I had around the screw.”<\/p>\n
Vinales has only tried a supermoto bike in the lead-up to Barcelona but was left encouraged by a “very different” feeling to how it was before this latest surgery.<\/p>\n
He said he has sufficiently rebuilt the strength in the shoulder – by virtue of a three-week stint at Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Center in Thalgau, Austria – but acknowledged there’s bulking up to be done in the chest and back area.<\/p>\n
As for returning for Barcelona – which hadn’t necessarily been anticipated, with stand-in Jonas Folger having indicated last weekend that he expected another call-up – Vinales said it was prioritised to avoid coming in cold at Mugello, a much more physical track.<\/p>\n
“To come back at Mugello, I think it’s a disaster. So come back at Montmelo [Barcelona], smooth introduction and see how the shoulder reacts. But I’m not too worried, to be honest. I think I will find the strength. I don’t know how competitive I will be on the Friday or Saturday, but I know day by day I will be more competitive.”<\/p>\n
The future<\/p>\n