The Prosecco DOC Dutch Round ended early for IodaRacing rider Alex De Angelis, after the Aprilia rider suffered a crash during Warm Up on Sunday in which he damaged a tendón in his left hand. The injury meant he was unfortunately unable to line up on the grid for Race 2 and had to undergo surgery.

As the countdown to Imola gets closer to zero, the IodaRacing rider explained: “In Holland they reconstructed the tendon in my left little finger and I had to have a cast on it until yesterday. Dr Lorena Sangiorgi from the Clinica Mobile has been treating me and I’ve started to move it slightly. As of now, I´m on my way to the track and one of the first things I’ll do is try and put on my glove.

“I think I’m going to race,” added the San Marinese rider, who was declared fit by the Medical Director. “Obviously I’ll need to get the go ahead from medical staff on site, depending on how they see me. It’s still an ugly injury but I think on Friday morning I’ll be able to get out on track…I don’t see any problem right now.”

De Angelis joined WorldSBK in 2016 after a long career in the MotoGP paddock and hasn’t raced at Imola for a long time.

“I raced at Imola for the first and only time in 1999 as a wild card, during a MotoGP weekend. A lot of time has passed since then and the track has also changed. But it’s still almost a home Round for me, and there’ll be a lot of sponsors, guests and friends there. I hope that gives me an extra little push of motivation to get a great result.”

The Aprilia rider now has more confidence in his RSV4 RF. “In Assen, on the dry track, we had a few problems and it wasn’t perfect,” added De Angelis. “Then after, in the Warm Up, the bike was working much better and my times were faster than those I managed in Race 1 but unfortunately I then had that crash and couldn’t take part in Race 2. I’m curious to see if this setting can work on different tracks. I can now say the ‘feeling’ has definitely improved, and I know what to do when the bike does certain things, and we know where to intervene. I know the tyres better, too, and all of this means we have a clearer plan of attack.”

Friday practice gets underway at Imola on Friday 29^th of April as entry to Tissot-Superpole 2 is decided, before both WorldSBK races begin at 13:00 local time (GMT +2), on Saturday and Sunday.