A COURAGEOUS ALEIX ESPARGARÓ IS BACK IN THE SADDLE LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER HIS ACCIDENT IN BARCELONA
The familiarity between Iannone and his Aprilia RS-GP is growing. On the first day of practice in Assen, Andrea finished sixth with a time of 1’33.355 about seven tenths behind the leader. It was Andrea’s best placement of the day on his RS-GP and it came at the end of two sessions where the Italian rider found a good feeling with his Aprilia straight away, a condition that allowed him to show a clear improvement compared to recent race weekends.
However, the best result, from a sporting point of view, was seeing Aleix Espargaró back in the saddle. The Spanish rider was back on the track less than two weeks after the accident in Barcelona that left him with two fractures to the left leg. Complicating matters was a crash in FP1. In these conditions, the time of 1’34.537 – which gives Aleix a provisional 19th place – should be considered more than positive and a true act of bravery.
