(Reuters) – Ducati’s MotoGP championship leader Francesco Bagnaia was passed fit to take part in the San Marino Grand Prix on Thursday, only days after his leg was run over at the previous race in Spain.
The Italian said he had watched footage of his fall at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last Sunday and felt fortunate to have escaped without serious injury after being thrown off his bike into the path of others.
“When I was on the ground I saw all the bikes going past and hoped they wouldn’t hit me, they were good at dodging me,” he told Sky television after visiting the medical centre at the Misano circuit on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
“I was very lucky,” added the reigning world champion, whose leg was hit by KTM’s Brad Binder before the race was red-flagged.
The San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix is the 12th round of the 20-race season. Bagnaia has a 50-point lead over Spanish rider Jorge Martin, who races for Ducati-supported Pramac Racing.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
