Why Aldeguer's injury has come at the worst moment

When it comes to injuries, silence is usually not a good sign. From the moment Fermin Aldeguer fractured his left femur last Thursday after crashing at the Aspar circuit during a training session, until Gresini issued a statement with a photo of him lying in a bed at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona, where he had undergone surgery, five days passed. A long time.

Although no details of the operation were disclosed, the fact that the procedure lasted five hours suggests that the surgical team led by Dr Ignacio Ginebreda encountered a problem far more complex than initially expected.

After the crash, Aldeguer was taken by ambulance to Valencia’s La Fe University Hospital and from there transferred to Barcelona, where he went into surgery on Friday. “The worst is over,” said the rider from La Nora in the post published by his team on Tuesday, which was accompanied by his first photograph since the accident.

Fortunately for Aldeguer, the operation is now behind him, and his sole objective from this point on must be to recover so that he can return to riding without being limited by the consequences of the crash. He needs to face the road ahead without rushing, without forcing things — something far easier said than done, especially since this setback has come at the worst possible time and is likely to have significant sporting consequences in the short and medium term.

No one has ventured to specify how long he will be sidelined. However, Autosport understands that it will be difficult for him to get back on a bike for training purposes before early April. According to the calendar, that would place his return around the fourth race of the season, in Qatar, by which time the most coveted seats on the grid for 2027 are expected to have already been taken.

Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Aldeguer, the best rookie of last season in the premier class with one win and three podiums in his debut year, was approaching 2026 with the intention of gaining even greater prominence in order to improve his current conditions at Gresini, where he has been assigned a year-old Ducati. Any hopes he may have harboured of convincing the Borgo Panigale factory that he deserves one of the official Desmosedici machines that will take to the track when the new technical regulations come into force almost certainly remained at the Aspar circuit, at the very spot where he crashed.

The rider market waits for no one, least of all the one that will shape the grid two years from now. This stroke of bad luck removes Aldeguer from the race among those hoping to line up alongside Marc Marquez under the roof of Ducati’s factory garage, assuming the executives have not already chosen a team-mate for him. All signs point to that bike not going to the Gresini rider, who is now forced to recalibrate his focus and concentrate solely and exclusively on a rehabilitation process that will not be short and must be tackled without shortcuts.

The ordeal endured by the elder of the Marquez brothers — someone with whom Aldeguer shares a close bond — after forcing his return from a broken arm in 2020 stands as the clearest warning of the dangers of trying to speed up recovery times. Aldeguer may have missed the train he hoped to board in 2027, but his MotoGP journey extends far beyond that date, especially considering that he is only 20 years old and has already shown what he is capable of.