Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Jeffrey Herlings will not take part in this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Loket for the fifth round of the 2021 MXGP World Championship. But MX2 world champ Tom Vialle is in after missing two rounds due to a hand injury.

The 26-year-old Herlings underwent further scans on his left shoulder blade earlier this week. The initial fracture that had ruled him out of the second moto of his home Grand Prix last Sunday was found to be larger than originally thought. Herlings had been landed on by another rider at the start of the first race at Oss and although he was able to win the sprint he was forced out of the second outing. The four-times World Champion now has to convalesce to let the crack heal sufficiently. 

Jeffrey Herlings: “I don’t have pain in my shoulder for day-to-day life but sports and especially something like motocross is a different story. We’ll sit out Loket with the aim to come back 100%. It’s a shame and something that wasn’t my fault but it is what it is.”