After missing four rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship due to a thumb injury Romain Febvre is back racing this weekend at the MXGP of the Czech Republic. A three-time winner at Loket the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP rider has conscientiously prepared his comeback for this, the thirteenth round of the series.

He’s back! After being a title contender throughout the first part of the season Romain Febvre was forced to take a break from racing as a result of a thumb injury sustained during the French round of the series. After missing four rounds of the championship, he’s now back and ready for action.

Romain, it must be a great feeling to be back racing?
Yes, of course; that’s great! I feel OK; Loket is not really one of my favourite tracks but I have scored good results here in the past, so we’ll see how it goes! Initially when I was back training on the bike three weeks ago I had some pain but it was bearable and each week it got less and less.
We can imagine that you never stopped working during this break?
For sure; this is an injury, but it's not a big injury which prevents you from working. Everything was possible apart from riding my bike or doing some VTT, so I could almost follow my usual training programme.
Was it hard mentally?
The wait to return to racing no, but for sure to see my challenge for the championship disappear was tough to accept as I was third in the standings, less than thirty points from the leader. Everything was possible, but injuries are part of the sport.
You have no chance for the championship title now; we imagine that your goal is to get podium results and MXGP wins?
The first goal is not to hurt the thumb again. I have no pain when I ride my bike, but I don’t know how it will be in case of a crash as the ligament is still partially torn. I’m confident with my speed and with my physical condition as I’ve training a lot the last two weeks; now I have to get back into the rhythm of racing. But I have a good feeling; I always get good results here, so I come here with confidence.
You have won three times here at Loket. Is it the best round to be back as the next GP is Lommel?
Of course, here it’s hard ground so physically it’s less demanding than Lommel. It was my goal to be back here, and I have managed it so I’m happy. Lommel will be tough physically, as it is every year, so to return there would have been difficult. I have one more week to prepare for Lommel; I think that I will be able to go fast for several laps, but maybe not for the entire race at the same pace as the leaders. But, as always, I will do my best!

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