From tibia break to German MotoGP podium for Crutchlow

Cal Cruthclow has joked “maybe I’ll get injured before every race” as he charged to the podium at the German MotoGP despite suffering a tibia fracture just days earlier.

In a freak accident while cycling between the back-to-back Assen and Sachsenring rounds on Wednesday, Crutchlow suffered a fracture to the top of his right tibia and damaged his ACL ligament which plunged his German round into doubt.

But after feeling fit enough to race this weekend, Crutchlow produced a strong showing to claim his first podium since the 2019 opening round in Qatar with third place behind winner Marc Marquez and runner-up Maverick Vinales.

Having claimed his last podium on his previous injury comeback from a serious ankle break, Crutchlow saw the funny side but played down the injury concerns at the Sachsenring race.

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll get injured before every race, panic Lucio a little bit more as he is always stressing and worrying!” Crutchlow said. “On Wednesday I had a strange accident and hurt my knee but honestly speaking my physical condition over the weekend was fine.

“I didn’t complain about it and I got on with my job. On Thursday I wasn’t going to make it an excuse to go fast or slow this weekend. I don’t know. When the chips are down and I need to pull out a result, I can pull out a result.”

The LCR Honda rider, who has moved up to ninth place in the MotoGP championship thanks to his 18th career podium, dismissed any major breakthroughs with his RC213V having felt his pace gains were circuit-specific.

Crutchlow has been struggling for front-end stability and turning with the 2019 Honda and feels being able to slide the rear of his MotoGP bike reduced the problem at Sachsenring.

“I think we need to be careful with regards to this track as it is a very, very special track as the bike slides a lot and it helps the turning of our bike,” he explained. “I still think that is my issue with the bike at the moment.

“We are struggling to turn and today helped as we slide a lot with the rear of the bike. I look forward to the upcoming races as I think our bike is strong in Brno and I think it will be strong in Austria as well.

“The second half of the season is normally where I have a better run anyway until I get to Australia.”