MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi fractured his right shin bone in a crash during practice and has been ruled out of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.
The 31-year-old Yamaha rider was third fastest with 15 minutes remaining in Saturday's final practice session when he was thrown from his bike and suffered a nasty landing.
He had trouble getting up and was eventually carried away on a stretcher to be checked over by medical staff, who diagnosed the injury and the MotoGP website (www.motogp.com) confirmed the break.
The next race after Italy is the British MotoGP at Silverstone on June 20 where Rossi will almost certainly be missing.
The nine-times motorcycling world champion, mulling a future move into rallying or Formula One, is second in this season's standings after three races with Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo leading the way.
The Spaniard also topped the second free practice session ahead of qualifying with Rossi ending up fourth quickest despite his crash.
Rossi was fastest in Friday's first practice but had complained he was still suffering shoulder problems which had hampered him in the early rounds of the season.
