MotoGP: Toni Elias to undergo leg surgery

New Alice Ducati recruit Toni Elias will undergo surgery to remove pins and screws in his left leg later this month.

Elias suffered a serious fracture to his femur on the first day of the Dutch TT in Assen back at the end of June.

The injury severely disrupted Toni Elias’s final season with the Gresini Honda squad. He missed three races and returned well below full fitness in Brno. He gradually regained strength in the leg and managed to finish third in the first ever wet to dry flag-to-flag race in Japan.

Tony Elias is free to have the operation with the Alice Ducati squad, run by Luis D’Antin, not testing now until a three-day session at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia in January. Ducati will only have enough new GP8 machines for factory duo Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri in Jerez later this month.

Tony Elias and British-based French rider Sylvain Guintoli will be back in action on January 22 in the Far East.