Jeffrey Herlings has apologised to his fans and says he’ll be back soon and stronger than ever after crashing and breaking his collarbone in a crash at an open practice session in Holland today.

The world championship leader, who has a 62-point lead over his team-mate Tony Cairoli in the series, is to have surgery on the collarbone tonight. It was rumoured he hurt his wrist and ribs, but that has not been confirmed by KTM. Their official statement said:

“MXGP FIM World Championship leader Jeffrey Herlings will have surgery to repair a break to his right collarbone after a crash while practicing at Berghem in Holland today.

“The 23 year old is scheduled for a procedure at renowned surgeon Dr Claes’ clinic in the next few hours to fix a fracture near a plate that was inserted for a previous injury. It is extremely likely that the winner of 8 from 10 Grands Prix this season will miss this weekend’s Lombardia round at Ottobiano in Italy but then has a two week break before the Grand Prix of Indonesia on July 1st. Thoughts with The Bullet.”