The Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team will line-up only one rider at Valkenswaard this weekend as Romain Febvre is still recovering from a practice incident prior to the MXGP of Great Britain. He tried to ride at Matterley but pulled out after qualifying.

Romain, you have to miss another MXGP and must be disappointed?
Yes of course, as I will miss this race and we don’t know yet for Argentina. It’s really bad for me, for the team, for our sponsors and for everyone but that’s how it is. To miss the start of the season like this is disappointing, especially after working so hard this winter. I was practicing when I hit my knee; I didn’t even crash. Now I need to get healthy.

We imagine that during the last two weeks you had many medical consultations and visited several doctors?
For sure I had a lot of check-ups both before and after England; I visited several different doctors. Nothing is really bad with the bones, nothing is broken, the cartilage and the ligaments are OK but when the two bones – femur and tibia – touch each other it’s really painful. My knee has been damaged in the past and now, when I have a big impact, that can be really painful. I have inflammation of the bones, not the ligaments or muscles; there’s no liquid inside and we don’t really know how long it will take. There’s not so many options apart from anti-inflammatory treatment and rest. Even injections are not necessary; it can’t help to solve the problem and I just have to be patient.

You have to wait to race but you can still train?
Actually I can do a lot of things, almost everything except riding. I can even go cycling; it’s strange as I can do many things except riding but I can’t extend my leg as that’s when I feel the pain. When you ride you have to extend the leg in almost every left corner; that why I can’t ride even with a knee-brace. It’s now two weeks that I’m haven’t been able to ride; I hope I will recover as soon as possible

.Mentally it cannot be an easy time?
Yes, for sure it’s tough, but that’s how it is; our sport is sometimes really tough with us. Thankfully I have strong support from the team.