MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi refused to let a broken bone sideline him from practice for Saturday’s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen.

The Italian flipped off his Yamaha into the gravel at 160kph during Thursday’s first session, fracturing a bone in the little finger of his right hand and twisting his left ankle.

He returned from hospital to complete 25 laps on an overcast afternoon with occasional showers, finishing the day as the 12th fastest rider.

“I’m okay and I would like everyone to relax about it, even if it’s been quite hard for me to ride,” said Rossi.

“When I…brake it’s really hard. I don’t have much power or feeling. Plus I took a big bruise on my thorax and I couldn’t breathe well for a long time and it’s still quite hard to breathe now,” he added.

“I had all the examinations necessary to check if everything was okay and with some painkillers I was able to ride this afternoon.”

Spaniard Toni Elias, who fell off his Honda and injured his shoulder in the morning, was less fortunate. He returned to Barcelona for medical tests and will miss the race.

Championship leader Nicky Hayden also fell but was uninjured.

The Dutch round follows a crash-strewn Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona last weekend in which six riders fell at the first corner.

Ducati’s Spaniard Sete Gibernau is absent from Assen after requiring surgery for a fractured collarbone but Italians Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri gritted their teeth and took part in practice.

GREAT RECORD

Rossi has won the last two races after a troubled start to the year and is now third in the standings, 29 points adrift of Honda’s Hayden and nine behind Ducati’s Capirossi.

The Yamaha rider has a great record at Assen, even though the circuit has been substantially reconfigured since last season. Rossi has won in the Netherlands for the past two years and started on pole there in 2005.

The championship is now in a crucial phase, with a spate of races close together, and the Italian spoke only on Wednesday of the need to stay out of trouble.

“It is very important to keep healthy and concentrate at such a crucial moment in the championship,” he told a news conference.

Rossi’s team mate Colin Edwards was quickest in the two practice sessions, lapping in the afternoon in one minute 38.144 seconds. Spaniard Carlos Checa, also on a Yamaha, was second fastest in 1:38.259. (Reuters)