Marco Bezzecchi
Valentino Rossi reveals that he never suffered from arm pump during his time in the MotoGP paddock.
Whilst racing in MotoGP, many riders suffer from several injuries during their career, but Valentino Rossi has revealed that he managed to avoid an issue many riders encounter.
Throughout a career in MotoGP, many riders encounter arm pump when they are racing in the premier class as they attempt to handle the bikes.
However, despite racing in the MotoGP paddock from 1996 until 2021, Rossi never suffered from arm pump surgery and did not have to undergo surgery like many of the other riders.
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Valentino Rossi’s ‘genetic luck’ protected him from arm pump
Whilst at the MotoGP Hall of Fame Dinner, Rossi and Dani Pedrosa were discussing arm pump, and Pedrosa was surprised to hear that Rossi had never encountered it during his career.
The Spaniard was known to have suffered many injuries throughout his racing career, and also underwent arm pump surgery on numerous occasions, most recently in 2022.
Pedrosa asked Rossi, “Have you ever had arm pump problems?”
Rossi replied, “Zero. I never had arm pump… A bit with the motocross bike sometimes. More than arm pump, I would get fatigued, to have the strength… In my opinion, it’s genetic luck. It depends on your genes and how big your forearms are. That was a great luck.
Pedrosa reacted by saying, “I suffered a lot with arm pump. Some years more, some years less, depending on how the bike was behaving. But in 2014, I was riding with just the left arm. In my case, if I did lots of training in the gym, it was much worse. And I needed to train at the gym.”
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Valentino Rossi pessimistic over Marco Bezzecchi’s 2026 chances
Despite having four of his VR46 Academy riders on the 2026 MotoGP grid, Valentino Rossi still expects his old adversary, Marc Marquez, to win the title.
During the MotoGP Hall of Fame Dinner, that was filmed in 2025, Rossi admitted that Marco Bezzecchi is the ‘most in-form guy’ as ‘he’s very focused, he wants to win.’
However, Rossi stated that the ‘Aprilia is a bit worse than the Ducati’, which will mean even though Marquez is still recovering from injuries from 2025, he still has the upper hand.
Bezzecchi won the opening Grand Prix of the 2026 season in Thailand, but crashed out of the Sprint Race on Saturday, and left Thailand second in the Championship.
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