MOTOGP: Di Meglio injured on new Aprilia

Aprilia test rider Mike Di Meglio fractured his elbow during the shakedown of Aprilia's brand-new MotoGP bike. The Italian brand's RS-GP turned its first laps at Aragon in Spain on Wednesday in a private test, with the French rider on board.

Di Meglio reported he had a "heavy fall, a big high side" during the day and underwent surgery on his right elbow in Toulouse on Thursday.

Race riders Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl will sample Aprilia's first thoroughbred MotoGP bike in a private test in Qatar later this month, before rejoining the full field for the final pre-season running at the circuit on March 2-4.

Replacing what was essentially an upgraded version of the Open class ART bike, the new RS-GP was due to make its debut during the Sepang test. With that postponed, Bautista and Bradl used the 'lab' development bike in Malaysia (BELOW) to gather data on the new control ECU and Michelin tyres, and will skip next week's test at Phillip Island.

Originally on Autosport.com