Tony Cairoli is looking forward to returning
At the beginning of December, Tony Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) underwent minor knee surgery in Belgium. The nine-time world champion was the big absentee this weekend in Riola Sardo. Cairoli is already back on the bike, but the opening match of the Italian championship came too early.
Teammate Jorge Prado took victory in the MX1 race and newcomer to the team Mattia Guadagnini also performed well in the MX2 race in Sardinia. For Cairoli, surgery was the only way to start the new season competitively.
After all, Tony had to deal with an injured left knee for almost the entire 2020 season. The uncertainty, pain and frequent swelling affected the Sicilian to such an extent that it prevented him from setting fast times during the qualifications. Striking: Cairoli did not even achieve a single pole last year. Although the 35-year-old superstar was disadvantaged by his inferior places behind the starting gate, he still managed to take third place in the final standings. His tenth top-3 in the premier class since he switched from MX2009 in 2.
“We already knew that the cartilage was damaged and that sentence didn't help the surgery that much, but we took out a few pieces of the broken meniscus, which made it a cleanup,” he said. “The recovery initially takes a little longer than we expected.” After focusing mainly on building muscle strength, Tony has now been back on the bike for a few weeks.
“The feeling is already good and the speed will come again, but I was not ready for a 30-minute race in the sand like in Riola Sardo. However, we can afford to take our time as the World Cup starts so late. The Internazionali d'Italia is a very nice championship, but the MXGP remains our main goal of course.” With 222 victories - more than any active rider - TC92 is only 8 GPs away from the magical hundred.
Tekst: Adam Wheeler & Tom Jacobs
Photos: Ray Archer
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