But he𒈔 is now planning a re꧅turn to MotoGP which he hopes will be sooner than worried fans might imagine.

The Tech3 GASGAS rider su♛stained a broken jaw plus injuries to♐ his lung and back after an accident on the Friday of the season-opening weekend, damage so traumatic that it almost caused him to call it a day.

He thought about retiring, he told : "Of course, it is evident.&n𒅌bsp;

“I have had a lot of t﷽ime to think, to reflect on wha✤t I do. 

“At times in the ICU I was with my wife. Perhaps those who have the worst [time] are those around you, my wife ☂and my two daughters. 

“They have had a bad time, but above all my wife, seeing her suffer is perhaps what has led me to think about [retiring] the most, if all thi൲s is worth it to me.

"She already𓃲 met me riding a motorcycle, which is what makes me happy. 

“I have been lucky to have them by my side, especially this time that without them I would have thought about whether to continue ridi♈ng a motorcycle b𒆙ecause later the recoveries are impossible.”

But Espargaro is on the mend.

His 10th season in the premier class 🔯could begin at the very next race, at Mugello on🎐 June 11, if his optimism is rewarded.

"Yes, I really want to,” he said. 

“It's why I get up every day, it's my fuel. 

“To think that after th෴e trauma I've had, getting back on a motorcycle is difficult to understand, I suppose, for many.

"For me and for those of us who are dedicated to this, for those of us who liဣke this sport so much, it is what I get up for every day. 

“I set a date to return and it is my goal. Every day I am doing my best rehabbing t🐭o get on the bike that d✃ay.”

If Mugello is not possible then Espargaro is determined𒁏 to return in Germany (June 18) or the Netherlands (June 25).

“I'm thinking of trying to return in one of th♈ese three that remain,” he said. 

“I wanted to ret﷽urn to Le Mans, but obviously the doctor told me not to be cr💃azy.

"In these three upcoming races, I wou💛ld like to get back on the bike for one of t🔴hem. 

“I don'ওt know if it will be possible but it is what I ha🦩ve in mind, what I would like.

"Whether it's Mugello, Assen or Sachsenring, one of these three, perhaps the third, the last, which is theಞ closest after the summer break and so I can recover because Kazakhstan isn't there. 

“In one of these, that's what I'm 🔥at. Waiting and recovering as I can, waiting for the doctor to give me ܫthe OK to run.

"I'd like to come back to Mugello. It's true that it's a very complicated circuit because of the speed in all the corners,🦄 maybe it's not the best place to come back to, so maybe I won't come back to Mugello, I don't know and I'll wait for a couple more races.

"Everything has to 👍go according to a procedure that I have to comply with, especially listening to the doctors. 

“Doctor Charte, who has been my father these days and who has been calling me every🍷 day to see how I was doin♌g and if he gives me the OK to run.

"Then I will see how I am in terms oಌf strength and energy, and I will choose the Grand Prix that best suits my phꦐysical and mental state and everything to return. 

“Perhaps, what has been said,🦄 Mugello due to its characte꧑ristics, is not the most appropriate circuit.”

Espar꧅garo🧸’s mind takes him back to the crash that left him hospitalised and sidelined.

"Yes, it was very strong,” he remembers.

"It was one of those blows that you don't want 🤡to repeat. 

“It also happened at a time that I didn't expect.

“Normally when you are pushing in a qualy or during the race you are in a mode of preventin🌄g any fa♏ll or any type of action that passed.

"At that moment I was just coming out of the pits, I was ready to pull, to do just that fastest lap, and there was a chain of consequences🅘 for what h🌠appened in the crash. 

“It caught me off guard, not expecting that crash, so when I went flying I saw myself at a moment I didn't💖 expect and then I started to spin around and lost my point of view.

"Th💙ere were many factors for which I had the crash and the injuries I had. 

“The mai🔴n ones were due to my mistake, fo🐼r going too slow at the pit stop with the new tyre.”