Zarco undergoes surgery after horror Spielberg crash

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Spielberg, August 20: Johann Zarco has undergone surgery on the fractured wrist he suffered in a horror crash at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday (August 16).

A shaken Zarco knew he was "very lucky" to avoid serious injury after a shocking high-speed collision with Franco Morbidelli at the Red Bull Ring last weekend.

The Reale Avintia Ducati rider and Morbidelli went flying off their bikes, which came perilously close to hitting Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales as they hurtled across the track.

Zarco went under the knife on Wednesday (August 19) and hopes to make a swift return, with the Styrian Grand Prix to come this weekend on the same track where he had such a fortunate escape.

The Frenchman posted a picture of himself on Instagram with his right arm in a sling giving the thumbs on and wrote: "Hi everyone! All good with the operation! Let see now how fast can be my recovery!"

Rossi on Tuesday (August 18) criticised Zarco for a "serious error in judgement" in Spielberg, sharing footage of the incident via his onboard camera on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Le immagini dalla mia telecamera sono quelle che mi fanno più paura,perché da qui si può capire la velocità con cui la moto di Franco ha attraversato la pista proprio davanti a me.è passata talmente forte che io non l’ho neanche vista,quando sono tornato ai box ero già abbastanza scosso per aver visto la moto di Zarco letteralmente volare sopra la testa di Maverick.miracolosamente non si è fatto male nessuno ma spero che questo incidente faccia riflettere tutti,soprattutto noi piloti.Zarco non ha intenzionalmente causato una carambola del genere,ma resta comunque un grave errore di valutazione,che un pilota di MotoGP non può permettersi,soprattutto in una staccata da 310 km/h.spostandosi velocemente sulla destra e frenando “in faccia” a Franco,non gli ha lasciato il posto per rallentare,quindi Morbidelli non ha potuto fare altro che centrarlo a tutta velocità.capisco che in gara ci si gioca tanto e tutti danno il massimo per stare davanti,ma non dobbiamo dimenticarci che il nostro è uno sport pericoloso,e l’incolumità nostra è dei nostri avversari è molto più importante che guadagnare una posizione.

A post shared by Valentino Rossi (@valeyellow46) on Aug 18, 2020 at 8:41am PDT

He wrote on social media: "I understand that in the race we play for so much and everyone gives their best to be at the front, but we must not forget that ours is a dangerous sport, and the safety of us and our opponents is far more important than gaining a position.

"Zarco didn't intentionally cause such a carambola [crash] but it still remains a serious error in judgement, one which a MotoGP rider cannot afford, especially at 310kph."

He added: "The images from my camera are the ones that scare me the most because from here you can understand the speed with which Franco's motorcycle crossed the track in front of me.

"It passed so quickly I didn't see it, and when I went back to the pits I was already shaken enough after seeing Zarco's motorcycle literally flying over Maverick's head."