It was great to be back on the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R in Portugal, but there were a couple of times when I was in the hospital in Qatar that I wondered if I would make it! When I knew the seriousness of the break I immediately set myself a target that I wanted to ride at Estoril; that was a huge target but one I knew I had to set so I could focus on getting back. After my operation I had a couple of complications and that’s when I wondered if I’d get back in time, but I flew back to Spain and got everything sorted and was able to start recuperating properly.
Once the healing of my wound was underway – I lead the World Championship in stitches so far this year! – I was able to start visiting a hyperbaric chamber in Madrid to help me even more. I travelled there from my home in Talavera many times. I think I did something like 4,500 kilometres going there and back and by the time I had finished all the trips, my Suzuki Kizashi car could have done the journey alone!
My healing process was a great success and then I was able start to get my fitness back so I could ride at Estoril. I did a lot of swimming and cycling, and as the event got closer I was able to ride my Suzuki RM-Z Supermoto bike to help me get the feel of a bike again and although this is not like riding a 225bhp MotoGP bike, it did help a lot.
All my hard work paid off because I was given the ok by my surgeon in Madrid to ride and then when I arrived at the track I had another check-up with the Chief Medical Officer and I was given the ok to get back out there and race: His one rule was that I couldn’t use my crutch inside the garage or he’d come in and take it off me and stop me riding – so I had to hide it out the back because I still needed it for a bit of support!
The weekend went as well as I wanted it to – except for what happened in the race when I got pushed off the track – and now I have a couple of weeks ahead of me to get even fitter for the next race at Le Mans in the middle of May. My next target is to be fully-fit for my ‘home’ Grand Prix in Barcelona in early June and try to improve on the fifth place I got there last year.
My thanks go out to all the fans that supported me and sent me well wishes on Twitter – it was great to know I had so much support. I also have to thank the Suzuki MotoGP and all the medical staff for believing in me and giving me all the help I needed to get back on time. There are still many races left this year and I can’t wait to be pushing hard again very soon.
