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Aleix Espargaro injured in “very heavy crash” at private Honda MotoGP test
Aleix Espargaro may need surgery after suffering a big crash during a private Honda test this week
Honda MotoGP test rider Aleix Espargaro has revealed he suffered four broken vertebrae in a “very heavy crash” during a private HRC test at Sepang this week.
The three-time MotoGP race winner joined Honda at the end of the 2024 season, after calling time on his grand prix racing career.
Since then, he has spearheaded bike development for HRC through testing and wildcard appearances, dovetailing that last year with a professional cycling campaign.
For 2026, he has stepped away from cycling competition to focus fully on his Honda testing role.
Honda has been at Sepang this week with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami for testing, with the pair seemingly putting the brand’s 2027 850cc bike through its paces again.
However, Espargaro has revealed he was hospitalised after a heavy crash on Tuesday.
He took to his social media channels to state that he suffered four broken vertebrae but has been cleared to fly home, where he will be evaluated for surgery in Barcelona.
His post on Instagram read: “On Tuesday, during the test here in Sepang, I suffered a very heavy crash.
“As a result, I sustained several contusions and four broken vertebrae, although by a very small margin, and thankfully, they did not affect the spinal cord.
“After a few days at CU Aurelius Hospital, where I’ve been treated incredibly well, I’m now able to fly home with [my wife] Laura, who came to the rescue from the other side of the world (once again, and I’ve lost count…) and there we will evaluate whether surgery is needed at Quiron Dexeus.
“Thanks to my entire Honda team for taking care of me these past few days. Sorry for the scare, I’ll be back!”
A post shared by Aleix 41 (@aleixespargaro)
Espargaro’s injuries will come as a blow to Honda’s intensive development programme, after revealing earlier this year that it had first put its 850cc prototype on track in December.
While no wildcard plans had been announced, the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez presented an opportunity for Espargaro to race for the first time this season ahead of the first in-season test of 2026 on the Monday afterwards.
There will be four in-season tests this year, following the Spanish Grand Prix, Catalan Grand Prix, Czech Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix.
The latter pair of tests will mark the first Pirelli running for the current grid, which has so far been done in private by test riders.
MotoGP was due to be in race action this weekend in Qatar, but war in the Middle East forced the event to be postponed until later in the year.
Aleix Espargaro may need surgery after suffering a big crash during a private Honda test this week
Honda MotoGP test rider Aleix Espargaro has revealed he suffered four broken vertebrae in a “very heavy crash” during a private HRC test at Sepang this week.
The three-time MotoGP race winner joined Honda at the end of the 2024 season, after calling time on his grand prix racing career.
Since then, he has spearheaded bike development for HRC through testing and wildcard appearances, dovetailing that last year with a professional cycling campaign.
For 2026, he has stepped away from cycling competition to focus fully on his Honda testing role.
Honda has been at Sepang this week with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami for testing, with the pair seemingly putting the brand’s 2027 850cc bike through its paces again.
However, Espargaro has revealed he was hospitalised after a heavy crash on Tuesday.
He took to his social media channels to state that he suffered four broken vertebrae but has been cleared to fly home, where he will be evaluated for surgery in Barcelona.
His post on Instagram read: “On Tuesday, during the test here in Sepang, I suffered a very heavy crash.
“As a result, I sustained several contusions and four broken vertebrae, although by a very small margin, and thankfully, they did not affect the spinal cord.
“After a few days at CU Aurelius Hospital, where I’ve been treated incredibly well, I’m now able to fly home with [my wife] Laura, who came to the rescue from the other side of the world (once again, and I’ve lost count…) and there we will evaluate whether surgery is needed at Quiron Dexeus.
“Thanks to my entire Honda team for taking care of me these past few days. Sorry for the scare, I’ll be back!”
Honda MotoGP test rider Aleix Espargaro has revealed he suffered four broken vertebrae in a “very heavy crash” during a private HRC test at Sepang this week.
The three-time MotoGP race winner joined Honda at the end of the 2024 season, after calling time on his grand prix racing career.
Since then, he has spearheaded bike development for HRC through testing and wildcard appearances, dovetailing that last year with a professional cycling campaign.
For 2026, he has stepped away from cycling competition to focus fully on his Honda testing role.
Honda has been at Sepang this week with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami for testing, with the pair seemingly putting the brand’s 2027 850cc bike through its paces again.
However, Espargaro has revealed he was hospitalised after a heavy crash on Tuesday.
He took to his social media channels to state that he suffered four broken vertebrae but has been cleared to fly home, where he will be evaluated for surgery in Barcelona.
His post on Instagram read: “On Tuesday, during the test here in Sepang, I suffered a very heavy crash.
“As a result, I sustained several contusions and four broken vertebrae, although by a very small margin, and thankfully, they did not affect the spinal cord.
“After a few days at CU Aurelius Hospital, where I’ve been treated incredibly well, I’m now able to fly home with [my wife] Laura, who came to the rescue from the other side of the world (once again, and I’ve lost count…) and there we will evaluate whether surgery is needed at Quiron Dexeus.
“Thanks to my entire Honda team for taking care of me these past few days. Sorry for the scare, I’ll be back!”
[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/motogp/news/1092929/1/aleix-espargaro-injured-very-heavy-crash-private-honda-motogp-test”]