Romain Febvre injury update

The Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team will line-up only one rider at Valkenswaard this weekend as Romain Febvre is still recovering from a practice incident prior to the MXGP of Great Britain.

Romain, you have to miss another MXGP and must be disappointed?
Yes of course, as I will miss this race and we don’t know yet if I can make it for Argentina. To miss the start of the season is disappointing, especially after working so hard this winter. I was practicing when I hit my knee; I didn’t even crash. Now I need to get healthy.

We imagine that during the last two weeks you had many medical consultations and visited several doctors.

For sure I had a lot of check-ups both before and after England; I visited several different doctors. Nothing is really bad with the bones, nothing is broken, the cartilage and the ligaments are OK but when the two bones – femur and tibia – touch each other it’s really painful. My knee has been damaged in the past and now, when I have a big impact, that can be really painful. I have inflammation of the bones, not the ligaments or muscles; there’s no liquid inside and we don’t really know how long it will take. There’s not so many options apart from anti-inflammatory treatment and rest. Even injections are not necessary; it can’t help to solve the problem and I just have to be patient.

You have to wait to race but can you still train?
Actually I can do a lot of things, almost everything except riding. I can even go cycling; it’s strange but I can’t extend my leg as that’s when I feel the pain. When you ride you have to extend the leg in almost every left corner; that why I can’t ride even with a knee-brace. It’s now two weeks that I haven’t been able to ride; I hope I will recover as soon as possible.

Mentally it cannot be an easy time
Yes, for sure it’s tough, but that’s how it is. Thankfully I have strong support from the team.