Pecco Bagnaia looks set to miss the final round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship in Valencia after fracturing his wrist in a bizarre over-the-handlebar crash coming out of the pit-lane during FP3.
The 2018 Moto2 World Champion was exiting the box when he appeared to snatch the brakes on his Pramac Ducati, causing the rear of the GP18 machine to lift.
Unable to get it balanced again, the rear came up enough to flick Bagnaia over the handlebars and down hard on his front. Though able to get up by himself, Bagnaia was transferred to the medical centre and then the local hospital.
Despite the low speed, the blunt impact fractured his wrist to put him on the sidelines for qualifying with a decision on the race to come later.
Pecco Bagnaia fractured his wrist coming out of the pits
What went wrong here?! #ValenciaGP pic.twitter.com/7dfM84tA0u
— MotoGP on BT Sport (@btsportmotogp) November 16, 2019
It’s been a character building maiden MotoGP season for Bagnaia on the year-old Ducati with flashes of form being interspersed by a number of race day errors, including four crashes in a row at one point.
A member of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 rider programme, Bagnaia is currently 15th in the overall standings but will continue with Pramac Racing 2020 where he will be upgraded to a latest-spec Ducati alongside Jack Miller.
