Álex Rins had his return to competition in Japan and admitted that his time off was not easy, with a recovery that was more complicated than he initially expected. He is still not physically where he wants to be and revealed that the recent times have been very difficult. Furthermore, the Spanish rider talked about some differences between a satellite team and a factory team.
Em entrevista ao Motosan, o piloto da LCR Honda explicou como foram os últimos tempos: ‘Foram alguns meses, não complicados, não quero usar a palavra «complicados», mas longos, muito longos. Não é uma lesão como eu estava à espera. Esperava que fosse uma lesão mais típica: partir a tíbia e, passado um mês, estar a andar da moto e a dar gás. Mas no final tivemos uma fratura dupla da tíbia e do perónio, com muitas lascas no osso. Não percebi isto até Montmeló mais ou menos, ou não quis perceber até lá. Mas agora parece que estamos a dar passos importantes na recuperação. Um deles é subir para a moto de MotoGP e ver como corre’.
He recalled the early days of recovery and how he was prevented from many things:
– It has been difficult for me. Because when I couldn’t move, when I was in a wheelchair, it was difficult. Because I couldn’t do anything, I spent the day lying on the couch. The physiotherapist would come to the house, I rarely left the house. But it has also been difficult now, because you can see that you are recovering, that you can support more, walk more. But you can’t do what you want to do. And the truth is that it is taking a long time, a very long time.
Rins, who will team up with Fabio Quartararo at Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP in 2024, then explained how it will be different to return to a factory team after being in a satellite team: ‘Yes, there is a difference. There is a lot of difference. What I experienced is that at Suzuki, in the end, we got off the bike and there were many ears listening to us. You asked for something and they worked to try to give it to you’.
And he assured that the current situation is different: ‘Here it’s different. In a satellite team, the support I felt as a rider is different. The fact that they trusted me to try new things didn’t exist. But, in the end, what I ask for, which is in the hands of the team, has not been lacking. But in terms of what they expected me to develop, that was lacking’.
