Vale Rossi in action on a Yamaha World Superbike contender at Misano.

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi today rode a motorcycle for the first time since breaking his right leg at Mugello on 5 June, the Italian completing a total of 26 laps at Misano on a YZF-R1 World Superbike machine, provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team.

Rossi did an initial run of 11 laps late in the afternoon with a best time of 1:41.000, before completing a a second run of 15 laps with a best unofficial time of 1:38.200.

The reigning MotoGP World Champion was able to ride well but he had some pain in his leg and his shoulder. He will now continue with an updated rehabilitation program and make a decision within the next week as to whether he will ride at the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring in 10 days time.

“We made this test in order to understand how we must work from here and to see more or less how I can ride the bike,” said Rossi. “The test was positive, because I can at least ride, but there is a lot more to a MotoGP race than to a test like this one. I had some pain in the ankle, the knee and the shoulder, but above all I lacked strength in the shoulder and a bit of movement in the ankle.”

Rossi hasn’t confirmed whether he’s contest the Sachsenring round, however he did enjoy his initial test on the R1 Superbike.

“I would really like to come back at Sachsenring, but it is still too early to say,” he commented. “We still have twelve days and we must wait and see how much we can improve my condition in the next few days. The Superbike today was good and great fun to ride! I really would like to ride at Sachsenring, but we must wait another week before making a decision.”

Rossi’s best time set at Misano was just under two seconds off of Cal Crutchlow’s best race lap of 1:36.546 set in race two during the WSBK round on 27 June.