Suzuki MotoGP's Rins injury caused by hitting van while on phone
Suzuki’s Alex Rins revealed the cycling accident ahead of the Catalan MotoGP race was caused by him hitting a van as he was sending a message on his phone.
Triple MotoGP race winner Rins was forced to miss the previous Catalan Grand Prix when he broke his right arm in a cycling accident on the Barcelona circuit.
He revealed ahead of this weekend’s German GP – having been declared fit to race following surgery – that he crashed into a van that he didn’t see because he was sending “an important message” on his phone.
“Yeah, for sure, as you say the truth is this – I crashed there in Montmelo because I was sending an important message,” Rins said on Thursday at the Sachsenring.
“For sure we need to stay off of our phones because also when we are driving and I’m including [myself], always we took the phone to see the time, to send a message and if you pay attention to the phone you don’t pay attention to the other cars or to the street.
“For sure, it’s hard. I prefer to hit the van, as I did, than to hit a person.
“So, imagine if there are guys painting and the van was not there? It would be even worse.
“So, this is a clear example [of the dangers].”
Rins says he initially remounted his bike after the incident and rode back to his motorhome without issue, but realised something was wrong when he arrived at the hospital in Barcelona.
“I remember everything,” he added.
Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“When I hit the van, I stand up and there was one guy there.
“He gave me a bottle of water, I cleaned a bit the leg, the foot that I had some blood on.
“When I saw the arm in that moment it was not so bad. My left hand, I broke it in 2015 the same [bone], the radius, doing flat track.
“When I crashed [in 2015] I stood up, I took the bike and I make two laps, then I say ‘I’m ok, but feeling a bit of pain’.
“So, I drove to the hospital. Exactly the same as in Montmelo.
“After the crash I took the bicycle, I cycled till my motorhome without phone – the phone was already broken, the screen.
“I go to the hospital and when I was arriving I saw the hand with a lot of liquid on the higher part of the hand and I was feeling maybe something a bit important [was broken].
“Doctor [Xavier] Mir and his team gave me the option of four weeks with the cast and start to recover or be operated and in one week start to move.
“For sure, I’m a rider and I want to be on the bike as soon as possible. So, I took the fastest option.”
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