(Reuters) – Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso is fit for the opening race of the 2020 MotoGP season in Jerez on July 19 just weeks after having surgery on a damaged left collarbone, his team said on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old sustained the injury in a crash last month while competing in a motocross race at Faenza in northern Italy after which he underwent an operation in Modena.
“Fit! After undergoing medical checks with Doctor Angel Charte this morning, Andrea Dovizioso has been declared fit and ready to race this weekend,” Ducati said on Twitter.
Dovizioso, runner-up behind Spaniard Marc Marquez of Honda in 2019, said he was eager to get back on the race track.
“After the collarbone operation, I continued to work hard to try to get as ready as possible for the Spanish GP,” the Italian told the team’s website.
“I feel pretty good but until I get in the saddle of the Desmosedici GP, I don’t know what my real conditions are. We will have to get used to the heat of Jerez and, given the short schedule, it will be even more important to make no mistakes.”
MotoGP will begin the 2020 season delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic with back-to-back races in Jerez on July 19 and 26.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
