Pramac Yamaha rider Miguel Oliveira has detailed his "very rare" injury that has kept him sidelined through much of the current phase of the 2025 MotoGP season.
Oliveira is currently missing out on valuable mileage with the new-to-him M1 bike after a crash initiated by rookie Fermin Aldeguer in the Argentina Grand Prix sprint.
The resulting injury - officially described as "a dislocation of the sternoclavicular joint with ligament rupture" - has kept Oliveira out of three successive grands prix now, with no guarantee of a return next time out in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
It means his tally for missed grand prix starts since the beginning of 2023 is up to 12 and counting.
The injury
Oliveira was examined in the immediate aftermath of the crash and even sent to a local hospital - but the initial suggestion was that he may have avoided a serious injury like a broken collarbone.
But while he did indeed avoid fractures, he felt something wasn't right - which was confirmed in due time.
"It was like a more serious injury than I expected," Oliveira said. "A very rare injury, this luxation [dislocation] of the sternum and the clavicle, it's not so common, and I was caught by surprise because I really wasn't expecting it, I was just expecting to break my collarbone, fix it, in three weeks I would be fine.
"But yeah, it was much more tricky than that.
"The pain was alarming - because I felt it was something big - but like from a broken bone. In the first few hours, nobody could really tell me what I really had. So I went to do a CT scan, I did an x-ray and everything was normal.
"Accidentally the nurse at the medical centre, pulling my leather on my right arm, I felt a bit 'clack' on my clavicle, and I thought 'oh, she really broke it now'.
"But actually she reduced the luxation and everything went back in place. But I was so freaked out that she really broke my collarbone, that once I got the x-ray and everything was negative I was like 'how is this possible? I just heard a crack'.
"After I called my doctor and he said 'look, probably 99% you have a luxation of the sternum and the clavicle, please just stay with your arm resting'. So I went to the medical centre in Argentina, [got a sling] to hold my arm and then I went 30 hours back home and did an MRI and confirmed the luxation, [and] the complete tear of the tendons."
The recovery
Oliveira remains with his arm in a sling still during his visit to the Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail - which is where he spoke to the media.
But he says he is "recovering well", with not a lot of pain.
"The first three weeks were just completely immobilised, now I have more symptoms from a 'frozen' shoulder rather than the proper injury but it still needs to heal," he explained.
Oliveira was initially told the injury carried a two-month recovery period - which he'd found difficult to accept. A Jerez return would come 'early' relative to that, but Oliveira insists he is not trying to shortcut the recovery process.
"There is no way you can speed up a tendon reattachment or [quickly] create scar tissue - less is more at this moment.
"As you know, you need to be well to come back to racing but also fully fit. So... I don't know at the moment if Jerez is 100 percent possible or 50 percent possible.
"My expectation is I would jump on the bike tomorrow. But I know it's pretty unrealistic at the moment.
"Monday I have another MRI scan, we will see how the tendon is healing and how safe it is to start doing 90-degrees-plus movement, because that's what really elevates the scapula and the clavicle.
"And if it doesn't come out, then we start to press on the gym - and in the week of Jerez we will for sure have an idea of yes or no."
The luck
Oliveira laughed at The Race's suggestion that he had spent time kicking black cats and triggering other bad omens.
"Yeah, it is now the third consecutive year I get an injury by crashing together with other riders," he acknowledged.
"I can't tell you the exact reason but I seem to attract these situations."
Recent Oliveira injuries
Portugal 2023
Crash with Marc Marquez (Marquez penalised)
Ligament damage on right leg
1 GP start missed
Jerez 2023
Crash with Fabio Quartararo (Quartararo penalisd)
Dislocated left shoulder
1 GP start missed
Qatar 2023
Crash with Aleix Espargaro (Oliveira penalised)
Right shoulder blade fracture
2 GP starts missed
Indonesia 2024
Solo crash (caused by bike short-circuit)
Right wrist compound fracture
5 GP starts missed
Argentina 2025
Crash with Fermin Aldeguer (Aldeguer penalised)
Left shoulder joint dislocation
3 GP starts missed so far
Oliveira had also had a bad right shoulder injury back in 2019 after a collision with Johann Zarco - being reminded of which prompted him to say: "I need to add some brake lights!"
He said the left-shoulder injury from Jerez from two years ago was "really well-recovered" so "has no relation".
And he lamented: "I've never crashed on this Yamaha bike except for this one crash and I got hurt. As you can imagine, there was a bit of frustration - but I just have to look ahead, otherwise you just get stuck into that negative loop of thoughts and that's not helping anything."
