• Former world champion takes tumble during winter workout
• ‘Just like at Valencia, it was kind of a freak accident’
The former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden broke two ribs and a shoulder blade during a training accident in Kentucky this week, the American’s Ducati team said on Thursday.
Hayden suffered the injuries near his home in Owensboro and has since had x-rays, a CT scan and an MRI.
Ducati said no surgery had been scheduled but the 30-year-old rider, who was training for the first time since breaking a wrist in the Valencia Grand Prix in November, would have the fractures assessed by a specialist in California next week.
“Obviously, injuries are never good but it’s part of motorcycle racing,” Hayden said in a statement released by Ducati. “Just like at Valencia, it was kind of a freak accident. I was starting to train again, like I normally do during the winter, at a private track near my house. I came up behind another rider, and he went to move out of the way.
“I wasn’t going that fast, but he clipped my front wheel and I went down and landed pretty hard on my left shoulder, and that was it.”
Hayden, who became MotoGP world champion in 2006, added: “It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing to do about it but heal quickly. Anyway, this doesn’t change my expectations for 2012 which, fortunately, is just around the corner.”
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