Spies says his season starts at Indianapolis after injury-hit year

Lingering problems with the shoulder injury he suffered in late-2012 meant the Pramac Ducati rider has only managed two races this year to date.

After having to withdraw from the Italian Grand Prix in June, Spies decided to wait until he was fully fit before attempting another comeback - and is confident he is now in good enough shape.

"Now I can get on the bike and ride and not tell the little white lies to all the journalists and saying I'm almost ready to ride when clearly in the beginning of the year I was never close to 100 per cent," Spies admitted.

"Now we can get on with business and kind of start the season where we need to, and I'm looking forward to it.

"It's been too much of a break. Last time I rode a motorcycle at all was Mugello. So I've got a lot of cobwebs to dust off. It's been since last year since I've been fast on a bike."

Spies admitted that he had harmed his chances of recovery by pushing to race again too soon at the start of 2013

"If anybody can know what it's like to ride a bike in that situation when you just can't hold on, it's horrible," he said.

"I ended up doing more damage and it set me way too far back.

"But that's a typical athlete, always trying to come back too soon and stuff like that.

"Now I can say I'm ready to ride but I've just got to get back up to speed, which might take a little bit but not too long."