What is Valentino Rossi doing back on a race bike just 22 days after breaking both the tibia and fibula in his right leg? The answer is simple enough: racing. How on earth can he be thinking about racing so soon? Quite simply, because his leg is in much, much better shape than he expected it to be.

The last time Rossi broke his leg back in 2010, he was in worse shape after the accident. “I remember in 2010 after the surgery I had five or six days where I was very, very bad,” Rossi told the press conference. “This time already the next day I was able to come back at home.”

That was also the moment when he started to think he might be able to return to racing quicker than in 2010. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, he immediately focused on Motegi as the target for his return.

But that changed quickly. “In the first days I understand that I feel a lot, lot less pain compared to last time. So I think that I can make in a shorter time. The first week was difficult, but after the first 10 days I start to improve a lot, also every day, and started to have good feeling from the leg and ankle. And started to think about Aragon.”

Before anyone in the paddock saw Rossi, there were few who thought he would be in any shape to be riding. But when he drove up to the paddock and got out of his car, it was clear he was in much better condition than any of us thought.

He hopped out with relative ease, and took off with just a single crutch for support. No cast on his leg, just a support bandage.