Having had an impressive 2023 season, Italian racer, and Alberto Forato was pumped to be signed up by the Standing Construct Honda team for 2024. Sure, Standing Construct wasn’t factory, but it was pretty close, and the dollars put into the team meant the riders knew they were being taken care of.

That 2023 ended with his best overall finish in the MXGP class, a fourth place in Italy and the previous round in Turkey he claimed fifth overall. He has also won a Saturday qualification race, and everyone was looking forward to seeing what he could do in 2024, with a bigger team and major confidence from his 2023 results. Our sport is cruel though, it doesn’t always favour hard work and confidence.

Sure enough, in the pre-season, Forato got hurt had an operation and arrived at the opening round of the 2024 season in Argentina as a big question mark. Would he even be able to race, well, as it turned out, he couldn’t. But it got worse, a lot worse.

Forato was set to return at round two in Spain, however a practice crash, during the last training for the Spanish GP, the Honda rider fell hard. In this crash, Forato broke no less than eight ribs and suffered a collapsed lung. His message to his fans was positive, but nobody could have known the full extend of his injuries and physical state.

“Hey guys,” Forato sent a personal message out to his fans. “An update about my physical condition for you. As you know yesterday, I had a big crash, and I suffered 8 broken ribs, and my lung collapsed. Yesterday was a really though day but I fight with all I had and luckily now I’m alive and bit more stable. They moved me to another hospital where I’ll get a surgery tomorrow and hopefully will be better soon and I’ll be back at the races asap much stronger than ever!! Huge thanks to God, to the medical crew to my gf, my family and all my team that they are 24/7 here for me!! Also big thanks to all for all the messages!!”

What many people don’t know, is that Forato was fighting for his life in hospital and for a six-hour period there were fears he wouldn’t make it. In that period, Forato had a spiritual moment, where he has said, he visited God. I caught up with this friendly, positive Italian yesterday and was surprised how close he came to not ever racing again and in fact, is lucky to be alive.

MXlarge: Alberto, thanks for doing this. I wanted to ask, that period from 2023, where you had a really good season, with strong results and were signed by Standing Construct. Everything seemed like it was going great, but then it changed very quickly, didn’t it?

Forato: Yes, it was a very difficult time. You know, everything was going really good in the pre-season, I was riding really fast, and I felt really strong, but then I had a really bad accident and for some time, they didn’t know if I was going to live or pass away. Once I was stable, the doctor told me, he didn’t know if I could come back to a normal life and this and that. For sure, racing was not in the mind from the doctor, but that was all I wanted to know, when can I get back on the bike. That is something I pushed for, and it made me get back on the bike, which was really quick for what I had. It was tough and I pushed through everything and got back to racing.

MXLarge: With such an injury and as you said, life or death, which is huge. Sometimes I wonder about motocross riders, because it’s the toughest sport in the World and things like Jeffrey (Herlings) hurting his back in Faenza a few years ago, or Liam (Everts) hurting his back in China and all they want to do is get back on the bike. I find that a fascinating attitude and at times, a bit crazy. Motocross riders are just built differently to normal people.

Forato: Yes, I have that conversation often with friends and my girlfriend, we are built different. They say you are so weird sometimes; we cannot understand it. I think motocross is by far, the toughest sport in the World, by far. Me for example, I went to see God for six hours and I spoke to him and when I woke again, I asked the doctors, I want to win, when can I come back on the bike. For sure, I don’t know, it is something like we want it so bad, and we put every day into it, but we know what can happen.

MXLarge: When you spoke to God, was that in the Church, or a spiritual thing, that you feel really happened, had you died?

Forato: It was in the six hours, when I was fighting between life and death. I was out, and I went to this place, where everything was white and this old man with a white beard and he asked me what I wanted to do, did I want to go back, or what. Maybe it sounds peculiar to say this, but I had this happen.

MXlarge: No, I believe there is an after-life and while some don’t, I do, so it doesn’t sound strange to me.

Forato: I don’t think I have told many people that story, but he asked me, what did I want to do. I said to him, I don’t know, I am here with you, and I said I didn’t know what the right thing to do was, pass away or go back, and keep going. He told me I can choose, so I said I want to go down, straight away.

MXLarge: Some people might think its strange, what you say?

Forato: I don’t care what other people think, actually.

MXlarge: Going back to before the accident. You had such a good 2023 and then suddenly, you are on the edge of maybe not coming back to that form from 2023, but you did get some top tens in 2024, in Arnhem, Switzerland, Turkey and the final round in Spain, so your results were coming back after such an injury. How does this new SR Motoblouz Honda team feel?

Forato: After Standing Construct, I was so happy to be there and so pumped and I was going so fast and physically I was good, so the injury was a big bump in the road, and the doctors told me it would take me a year before I felt like I did before. I didn’t know if I would get back to how I was, but I am good now and fit. When I came to this team, I didn’t know what to expect, but its been above my expectations and the motors are good and we have a good group and we are working really hard, but we also have fun and as you said, motocross is so tough, the toughest in the World and from morning until the evening, every day or the year we work for this. So, pushing through isn’t easy, but we do everything with a smile and our life doesn’t stop.

MXLarge: You mentioned you are not sure if you can get back to your old speed, before the injury, but what is your feeling now?

Forato: I feel like I am getting back, but I don’t know. It was a long journey and I had to learn how to walk again, but I am pretty confident, I will get it all back again.

MXLarge: You are only young, 24 now, but 25 in a few weeks I think, so you have plenty of time. There are so many factory teams, and your good friend Jeremy (Seewer) is in the Ducati team, which would be a great situation, if you and Jeremy could be team-mates in an Italian factory team, or not?

Forato: For sure and my goal for this year is to get a ride with a factory bike in a factory team (in 2026) and I want to have a good year to show I am good enough. You know, we talk about this all the time, Jeremy and me. That would be the dream team, you know. It is difficult to predict, but I work for a factory ride next year.

MXlarge: You and Jeremy both seem like really good people, with a wider view on the World than many others in the sport. You both seem like deep people, intelligent and I would love to know how that friendship works?

Forato: We are really good friends. You know, we know each other now for maybe seven or eight years. I remember I was very young when we met and we do a lot of things together, we both fix up old cars and when we are together, we don’t talk so much about motocross, but other things. Sure, we talk about motocross sometimes, because it is our job, but we also talk about many other things. Our girlfriends are always laughing, because we are both always busy with fixing things and doing stuff.

MXLarge: What are you doing leading into Argentina, which races will you do?

Forato: I will miss the two Italian International races, but I will do the two French International races at Lacapelle and then Sommières. After Argentina, I have 17 race weekends in a row, so it will be busy.

Bavo Swijgers images and Forato collection