The Doctor becomes the patient

After seemingly being impervious to serious injury throughout his MotoGP career, Valentino Rossi's good fortune has finally come to an unceremonious and painful end when he broke his right tibia in a massive practice crash at the Italian Grand Prix.

And the multiple world champion, nicknamed "The Doctor", has already undergone an operation in Florence to pin the fracture, and is expected to remain in hospital for 7-10 days.

According to his surgeon, Rossi will then be on crutches for six weeks before being re-evaluated. Three GPs will be held during that six-week period: the British (June 20), Dutch (June 26) and Catalunyan (July 4).

"It was a very sad day today for Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team, seeing Vale in so much pain and seriously injured for the first time in his career," said the Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis.

"It is especially tough for Vale to have this accident at his home Grand Prix and this will surely be a huge disappointment for him and for all his fans here at the Mugello circuit and around the world.

"As a team we are very deflated right now because we had our two riders challenging for the championship lead and now that challenge is over -- at least for the immediate future. We wish Vale the very best for a speedy recovery and hope to have him back with us as soon as possible."

With Rossi on the sidelines, Honda's Dani Pedrosa is on MotoGP pole at Mugello, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), Australia's Casey Stoner (Ducati), Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Colin Edwards (Yamaha).

In Moto2, Gold Coast rider Anthony West (MZ) will start way back in 39th grid position.

There will be live coverage of MotoGP qualifying on ONE at 9.55pm on Saturday, and the race coverage starts at 6.45pm on Sunday with the 125cc race.

Then it's Moto2, featuring Australia's Anthony West, at 8.00pm, and MotoGP at 9.30pm.