Jeffrey Herlings injury update – surgery on broken collarbone

We broke the news earlier today that Jeffrey Herlings had been injured while training in the Netherlands and had a suspected broken collarbone. This has now been confirmed by his team.

We were fearful that Herlings would need to miss at least this weekend’s grand prix at Ottobiano in Italy and it appears that Red Bull KTM Factory Racing fear the same. “Jeffrey Herlings is a major doubt for this weekend’s MXGP of Lombardia after a crash while training in Holland today,” they said.

Although it’s without a doubt a blow for his title hopes, he still has a 62 points lead on his nearest rival, which happens to be team-mate and nine-time world champion, Tony Cairoli.

Herlings will now go under the surgeon’s knife, as confirmed by the team this evening. “The FIM World Championship leader (by 62 points) will undergo surgery on his right collarbone this evening. Round 11 of MXGP takes place in the Ottobiano sand and is followed by a two-week hiatus before the Grand Prix of Indonesia. Thoughts with The Bullet.”

Herlings has a history when it comes to a broken collarbone. Back in 2015 at the German GP he broke his collarbone on the same jump that ate Eli Tomac at the Motocross of Nations two years earlier. He then broke his collarbone again in 2016 – the same one if I recall correctly – in a minor crash at Halle, Holland during a round of the Dutch Masters of Motocross.

The good news for Herlings is that after breaking his collarbone in Germany in 2015, he returned to racing two weeks later at the Swedish GP – incredibly winning the opening moto.

Sadly, he went down hard at the start of moto two (see below), seriously hurting his pinky finger and he didn’t race for the remainder of the championship.

Keep it locked to dirtbikerider.com and we’ll update here when we get more news.

Herlings injury update, June 14, 19:07: Jeffrey Herlings has today offered an update on his bike return timeframe.

Herlings injury update, June 17, 18:30: Injured Herlings helplessly watched the MXGP of Lombardia and admitted it had been a “painful weekend” but Herlings’ is “more motivated than ever” as he plots his return (link includes image post-surgery).