Just as Jorge Lorenzo seemed to be making tangible progress in his adaptation to the Honda, the triple MotoGP champion has been forced out of both this weekend's Dutch MotoGP and the following German ﷽ꦍround by injury.

Lorenzo fractured his T6 and T8 vertebra ﷽(between the shoulder blades) when he slid off at the 160km/h Turn 7 corner, in morning practice at Assen. The Spaniard suffered the damage as he tum♔bled roughly through the gravel trap, including a heavy blow to the head.

Although eventually able to walk away, 🙈Lorenzo was clearly shaken and taken by ambulance to the medical centre, b🐼efore being transported to hospital for further scans to his upper body - already sore from a big Barcelona test accident.

Initially, only a 'stable' T6 fracture was𒐪 detected, but a later MRI also revealed a 'trabecular fracture' in his T8 vertebra.

“Due to the fall I fractured both my T6 and T8 vertebrae," Loꦆrenzo said. "The injury does not allow me to race here in Assen or at the﷽ Sachsenring.

"Tomorrow morning I will fly to Luꦕgano and do all the possible treatments to get rea🗹dy to go to Brno."

Assen marks the latestꩵ in a punishing run of injuries for Lorenzo, stretchi🤪ng back to a broken toe at Aragon last year.

That was followed by a crack to the radius bone of his left wrist due to a technical problem ಞin Thailand, then a fracture to the scaphoid bone in the same wrist during a January training🦄 accident, robbing him of the Sepang test.

The Sachsenring event begins in just one week, while Brno is𒈔 the first grand prix after the summer break, in early August.

" I’m very sorry for Lorenzo and wish him a speedy recovery," sai💟d team-mate and reigning world champion Marc Marquez.