Cal Crutchlow reveals shoulder problem that forced early retirement from Italian GP

Fitness issues meant the three-time grand prix winner had to retire even before the halfway point at Mugello

Cal Crutchlow’s return to MotoGP at the Italian Grand Prix was cut short by a muscle tear in his left shoulder, it has been revealed.

The Briton made his first grand prix appearance in three years at Mugello, substituting for an injured Johann Zarco at the LCR Honda team.

However, he was forced to pull into the pits after just 10 out of 23 laps on Sunday, bringing a premature end to his highly-anticipated comeback.

Speaking afterwards, Crutchlow revealed that he had already decided to retire from the race, having reported severe shoulder pain during Sunday’s morning warm-up.

The muscle tear near his left scapula wasn’t caused by any single incident, but the constant stress he put on his body in his first competitive outing since the 2023 Japanese GP.

“Unfortunately, in warm-up, I did something to my shoulder. I had some checks in the medical centre before and we can see some damage,” he said.

“So, I was advised to do what I could do and that was it. And I did. The team was already aware.

“Of course, I wanted to do the full race distance, but today it wasn't possible for that reason.

“My plan was to pull in after three laps. Then it went to five laps. Then it went to eight laps.

“And then finally at 10 laps or 11 laps. So, I did half race yesterday, half race today. So I've completed a race! Just in two halves, like a game of football.”

Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Crutchlow explained that he retired from the race as a precaution to avoid aggravating the problem, rather than because the pain had become unbearable.

“I need to go for some checks tomorrow to see what the damage or the situation is.

“So long off the bike and coming back and trying to ride one of these bikes around Mugello, I'm probably just using a muscle that I haven't used in God knows how long. And it's strained over the weekend or something's happened because I felt something happen.

"Then, I had quite a lot of pain. On the warm-up lap, I didn't think it was going to be possible. But when I was at the start, I felt OK. But then, the pain was worsening. I have a high pain threshold. I always have. So I knew that I don't want to do any more damage. I'm not here to do myself any damage."

Improved speed

Although Crutchlow started Sunday’s race in 22nd position and remained in the same spot until his retirement, he was pleased with the progress he had made on medium tyres.

The 40-year-old set a best time of 1m47.919s on the third lap, comfortably improving on the 1m48.378s he managed on a soft rear tyre in Saturday’s sprint. Further, he was consistently able to lap in the 1m48s on Sunday, having faded into the 1m49s bracket during the shorter race.

“I'm actually not happy because I felt really good. I felt the best that I'd felt all weekend. My lap times were a lot better than the sprint already. I was a second faster already than the sprint race per lap.

“But the team are really pleased. Honda are really pleased. I'm pleased with the way that the weekend went.

“I couldn't have asked for anything else. And I don't think anybody could have asked for anything else. They expected me to be slower than what I was.

“It's not easy being so long off and then jumping back on.”