Movistar Yamaha team boss Massimo Meregalli believes the nature of Aragon’s layout is already very demanding on riders and could be too much for his injured rider Valentino Rossi.

The Alcaniz circuit is 3.15 miles long with 17 corners at an average speed of 104mph, and a top speed of around 215mph, depending on whether you have a Desmo engine or not. There are very hard braking areas into turns one, five, eight and 12, and there are ten left turns with seven right.

Rossi has broken his right tibia and fibula, so those seven corners are going to be painful and tiring as he either has to weight the peg or try to compensate with his upper body. Total race distance is 72.5 miles, should The Doctor take part on Sunday, which is a long way with a broken leg.

“It remains to be seen if Valentino feels he can complete the entire race weekend, which is very demanding, especially at a circuit like MotorLand Aragón, with big elevation changes. Should Vale feel that his injury is causing him too much discomfort, then Michael van der Mark will step in as the replacement rider,”said Meregalli.

“If that is the case, the team will put in maximal effort to help him adapt to the YZR-M1 as quick as possible. He didn't get the opportunity to test the bike before, so it would be a very exciting but also interesting weekend for him.”