While amazingly Zarco suffered no major fractures, the ligaments and tendons still took a beating and it is likely that the LCR Honda rider will be sidelined for some time before his full recovery. Following the race restart after Alex Marquez's horror crash, Zarco then suffered his own incident which was equally brutal. After losing the front end due to cold tyres, Zarco's bike then clipped Luca Marini's and send the rider flying into the back wheel of Bagnaia. With his leg trapped inside the bike, Zarco was then barrel-rolled through the gravel several times before coming to a stop.

Speaking to French outlet L'Equipe, Zarco gave the following account of the awful incident from his point of view:

"My foot was already bruised. We put ice on the bruising and the pain eased a bit. That's exactly when I should have decided to withdraw from the rest of the race." He said, “The footage of Alex's crash and the blow to my foot really shook me. When we lined up on the grid again, I was no longer in race mode. I'm angry at myself for taking that second start.

“I started tumbling with the motorcycle, and my left leg got caught between the wheel, the seat, and the exhaust. I was screaming in pain, trapped in the gravel trap, my leg starting to burn, and everyone running to my side was hesitant to touch me for fear of making the injury worse. I pulled my leg toward me myself, and eventually they helped me.

“They immobilized me, cut open my suit, and hooked me up to a serum to ease the pain. I'd never experienced anything like this before, and it was absolutely terrifying."

Both Luca Marini and Bagnaia quickly rushed to Zarco's aid, but it was a long time before he was pried out from inside the bike and taken to the hospital. The incident was the second major red flag of the day after Alex Marquez's brutal crash into the back of Pedro Acosta.

Pedro Acosta's engine failure, which led to the devastating and near-fatal crash of Alex Marquez, was not an isolated incident, and reporters have noticed one key detail which indicates KTM have some serious explaining to do.

Read all about the analysis of KTM's double engine failure which caused the massive incident here.