Suzuki rider Alex Rins has opened up about the bicycle crash that ruled him out of the Barcelona MotoGP weekend, admitting he ran into a van while “sending an important message” on his phone.
Rins suffered “an articular fracture of the right distal radius with a small displacement and high inflammation” on June 3 in the lead-up to the Catalan Grand Prix, sitting out both the weekend and the subsequent post-race test, for which he was replaced by test rider Sylvain Guintoli.
Rumours emerged quickly that Rins’ injury was caused by running into a stationary van while cycling the Barcelona circuit, and that he was using his phone at that moment.
Rins corroborated both aspects when speaking to the media in the lead-up to this weekend’s Sachsenring race.
“The truth is this. I crashed in Montmelo because I was sending an important message,” he said.
“And yeah, for sure we need to stay out of the phones [when we ride]. Because also when we are driving, always we take the phone, to see the hour, to send a message, and if you pay attention to the phone you don’t pay attention to the other cars, to the street.
“I prefer to hit the van as I did than to hit a person. Imagine if there were guys painting [the track] and the van wasn’t there. It would’ve been even worse. So this is a clear example [of why you can’t do this].”
Asked by The Race what happened after he’d hit the van and how quickly he knew he was injured, Rins said: “So, I remember everything. When I hit the van, I stood up and there was one guy there, he gave me a bottle of water, I cleaned a bit the leg, the foot, that I had some blood [on]. And when I saw the arm in that moment, it was not so bad.
“My left hand, I broke in 2015, same [bone], the radius, doing flat track, and when I crashed I remember I stood up, I took the bike, and I made two laps, and I said ‘I’m OK but feeling a bit of pain’. And I went to the hospital.
“Exactly the same as in Montmelo.”
Rins said he managed to cycle back to his motorhome, joking that this time he rode without the phone as “the screen was broken”.
“I went to the hospital and when I was arriving I saw the hand with a lot of liquid on the higher part of the hand.
“Dr [Xavier] Mir and his team gave me the option – four weeks with a cast and then start to recover, or to be operated on and in one week start to move.
“I’m a rider and I want to be on the bike as soon as possible, so I took the fastest option.”
Rins suffered crashes in each of the four consecutive races leading up to his bicycle accident, and sits 15th in the standings.
He acknowledged the weekend may be “difficult” given the state of his arm, but didn’t envisage himself not racing.
“I don’t think so. For sure I haven’t yet tried the MotoGP bike, but I’m doing like a normal life, in terms of riding the scooter,” said Rins.
“I think I will do the race, for sure.”
