It is not easy to understand, from the outside, the situation that Maverick Viñales must be experiencing with his left shoulder. Since the crash in the 2025 German GP, everything has become complicated for the Catalan rider, who has gone from being one of the favorites to replace Pedro Acosta to not having a guaranteed future in MotoGP right now.
This situation, in fact, caused rumors to spread last weekend, ensuring that Viñales would not get back on the KTM for the rest of the season. Something that the Tech3 pilot categorically denied through his social networks.
What is true and has already been confirmed is that the shoulder injury he suffers is not completely resolved, and that for this reason he will miss the British GP taking place this weekend in Silverstone. Through an official statement, it was explained that after the new tests he had undergone in recent weeks, it had been discovered that the infraspinatus tendon had a small tear. The positive part is that the supraspinatus is now completely recovered.
Furthermore, Viñales himself confirmed that there is no established recovery period, so we do not know when he will get back on the bike: «During the summer break we continued to look for the reason why I was not regaining strength in the external rotation of my left arm, while the internal rotation had improved significantly in recent months.
The latest medical tests showed that although the supraspinatus is fully recovered, I also have a small tear in the infraspinatus that we had not detected until last week. We are now working on the best recovery plan.
It’s not the best news just as the second part of the season begins. “I don’t know how long it will take, but, as always, I will do my best to recover.”
KTM already has a luxury replacement for Viñales: Pol Espargaró
The loss of Viñales, and even more so being indefinite, is an important challenge for Tech3, and also for KTM because it would imply leaving a motorcycle idle. In addition to the fact that the regulations do not allow prolonged absences of motorcycles from the track, at the level of sponsors and commitments it is also a problem, and for that reason Pol Espargaró will be the one who gets on the RC16.
In this way, Pol returns once again to compete, something that has not happened before this season due to the injury that the Catalan suffered in his arm and which ended up resulting in Jonas Folger returning to the track. Now it will be Espargaró who returns. And it is logical to have expectations about his performance, because last year he shone with his own light in the few GPs he competed in.
Even so, we have to be realistic, because in addition to the time of inactivity due to the injury and the fact that he has not competed for a year, Pol has been focused on the development of the 850. And therefore he has not been on the current MotoGP for a season, so he will need some running in to get closer to his best level.
Pol himself has expressed excitement about the opportunity, although at the same time he sends all his encouragement to Viñales:
«I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am sad; It is never pleasant to get on the bike in these circumstances, when a rider is injured and cannot compete, especially in the case of Maverick. It’s a real shame. On the other hand, competing is part of my life. I’ve been running all my life and I miss it so much, so it’s also a great opportunity for me. I have been involved with Tech3 my entire career and feel part of the family, so I am always comfortable when I return to this box.
I will need some time to adapt to the category again, since in recent months I have been focused on the development of the RC16 for the new project and it has been a while since I rode the 1000 cc bike. But after a couple of sessions I will be ready. “I really want to compete again and give my best to achieve good results for Tech3.”
