The fourth round of the MXGP World Championship in Sardinia proved to be a challenging one for Maxime Renaux, who was forced to withdraw from the second moto after a heavy crash in race one. While Yamaha initially confirmed the incident as the reason for his absence, Renaux has now shared more detail about the situation, revealing he suffered chest and lung issues following the fall.
After a technical issue during Saturday’s qualifying race left him with the last gate pick, Renaux had a mountain to climb in Sunday’s opening moto. As he charged through the pack from a poor start, he suffered a big crash that left him out of breath and with chest pain. Despite the discomfort, the Frenchman remounted and did his best to salvage points, finishing the race far from full strength.
Post-race medical checks raised further concerns, as Renaux began spitting blood — a clear sign something wasn’t right. Although eager to line up for the second moto, the on-site medical team deemed him unfit to ride based on the tests available at the track. As a result, he was sidelined for race two.
“Very disappointed and angry to lose important points this way,” Renaux admitted, noting that he’s already been pushing through a hand injury in recent weeks. The 2021 MX2 World Champion will now undergo more comprehensive testing in Belgium, with hopes of being cleared in time for round five this weekend at Arco di Trento.
Renaux posted the following update on social media:
MXGP of Sardinia, Saturday quali race technical problem had put us on last gate pick, 1st moto while pushing to come back from a bad start had a big crash, out of breath and hurt my chest/lungs. Stood up very far from the group and just tried to save what we could.
Got a check done in between races to be sure my lungs were okay as I was spitting blood, and got refused to start in second moto by the medical crew. I tried everything to push them to let me race but the exams they could do on track weren’t enough to call me « fit » to race.
Very disappointed and angry to lose important points this way, especially when I’ve been pushing so hard past weeks to go through a hand injury.
Will now get the « right » exams done in Belgium and hopefully they will let me ride in Arco next weekend.
