Rossi Breaks Leg In Crash

ROME  — Valentino Rossi fractured his right shin bone in a crash during practice yesterday on the Mugello track ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.Rossi, who is second in the MotoGP riders’ standings, waved as he was moved on to a stretcher before being taken to the track’s medical center for an x-ray that confirmed he had a displaced and exposed fracture of his right tibia.Later he was flown to Florence’s Careggi medical center by helicopter and said “Ciao” when he was taken out of the ambulance. He was then taken to the hospital’s orthopaedic trauma center.Rossi has a “very ugly fracture, with the bone exposed,” said Dr. Claudio Costa, head of the Mugello medical facility where the rider was first treated.Dr Claudio Macchiagodena, the MotoGP medical director, told the competition’s website; “It’s an injury more serious than we thought, because it’s an exposed fracture with the bone protruding from the skin. We have reduced the fracture, which fortunately has not affected any blood vessels or nerves.“It is serious, it could be a couple of months, but it is too early to say just yet,” he said.The nine-time world champion was being prepared for surgery yesterday to have a pin and four screws inserted in his leg, Costa said. Although doctors were worried that the broken bone, protruding through the flesh, might have damaged veins, Rossi suffered no other injuries. (AP)