Francesco Bagnaia has been ruled out of the Czech Grand Prix after sustaining a broken tibia and knee damage in his free practice one tumble.

The Italian crashed towards the end of the opening session of the weekend, falling hard at turn one, and immediately looked in pain with his right knee.

The Pramac Racing Ducati rider was transferred to Brno University Hospital for further checks, and it has now been confirmed that the Italian has suffered a broken tibia and sustained ‘further knee damage’.

Bagnaia is now set to miss three Grand Prix’s, with the Austrian and Styrian Grand Prix’s in doubt. This is the last thing Bagnaia needs as he continues to progress with his GP20 machine.

Bagnaia is currently aiming for Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati seat to continue his partnership with Jack Miller, who has already signed for the factory team, but will miss round three of the championship, potentially delaying his factory contract chances.

This comes at the worse time for Bagnaia, who no doubt would have wanted to prove that Jerez II was no fluke. The Italian was running inside the podium positions when his Ducati Desmosedici GP20 ran into mechanical issues towards the latter stages of the Grand Prix.

Featured image: MotoGP.com