Alvaro Bautista Interview: “In Qatar I felt left alone”

As we reported earlier, Alvaro Bautista is in Jerez this weekend to support his team and replacement rider John Hopkins. Spanish magazine MotoCuatro used the opportunity to have a quick chat with the Talaverano and ask him about his recovery.

Álvaro Bautista is in Jerez, not to race but to experience the Grand Prix as a spectator as he continues recovering from the operation of a fractured femur he suffered in a crash during free practice in Qatar.

“The doctor and the physiotherapist told me I’m doing OK, but I have the feeling that the recovery is going very slow,” Alvaro admitted in the Suzuki hospitality at Jerez today. “I’m glad I came to Jerez, it’s much better than to watch it lying on the sofa at home, you get more nervous” he added.

Alvaro’s spirits are rather low, but “luckily it’s getting better”, he’s encouraged. “I’m working to come back in Estoril (1st of May), but everything is going slower than I thought.”

Apparently the problem is that “the operation had some complications, I’ve got an incision of 30cm and I lost many days and a lot of blood,” he recalls.

“After the crash on Friday I would have had to travel to Madrid, if I could’ve done that I could be here in Jerez, racing”, but in Qatar he felt somewhat helpless. “Yes, to be honest I was very lonely, not knowing when I would be able to go back and put myself in the hands of Dr. Villamor who knows how to treat a rider to prepare him for a quick return.”

Bautista explained that “I was there alone with my manager and you get the feeling you’ve been abandoned. On Saturday and Sunday people come to see you, you are cared for, but on Sunday when they finish the races everyone leaves and you feel helpless.”

Alvaro now works every day “with a physiotherapist and at home and I use a hyperbaric chamber to come back in the next race, in Estoril.”

Source: motocuatro.com
Photo courtesy of Rizla Suzuki MotoGP