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Valentino Rossi has an incredible record in MotoGP. The Italian legend has 230 consecutive race starts, and has never missed a Grand Prix in his career. He has crashed many times, yet never broken a major bone in his body. His worst injury coming at Assen in 2006, where he fractured a wrist.
His luck had to run out some time, and Saturday morning at Mugello turned out to be that time. So how did it happen? How did a rider of Rossi's extraordinary experience, indisputable talent and seemingly endless luck manage to crash so heavily, and hurt himself so badly? Below is an outline of what we know, assembled from information from various sources inside the paddock at Mugello.
The sequence of events is fairly well known: After two fast runs early in the second session of free practice, held during the morning, Valentino Rossi went out for a third time. He had just fitted a brand new tire, the harder of the two compounds Bridgestone brought to Mugello. He went out for his out lap, and crossed the line to start his first full lap.
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