Bautista suffers broken femur in crash

MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista suffered a break to his left thigh bone (femur) during a fall in the closing stages of Friday’s final practice session at the Losail Circuit in Qatar. The Spaniard fell off his bike entering Turn 15 at high speed, and has since undergone an operation.

"Bautista crashed during yesterday’s final practice session and was immediately taken to the hospital after preliminary tests at the track showed that he had fractured his thigh bone," the Rizla Suzuki team confirmed in a statement. "He spent a fairly comfortable – but painful – night in the hospital, before going for surgery this morning to re-align and pin the bone.

"He will be returning to Madrid as soon as his condition is stable enough to allow him to travel and will be immediately visiting renowned surgeon Dr. Angel Villamor to set about the first steps of his recuperation."