MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi expects to race in tomorrow's Dutch Grand Prix despite breaking a bone in his hand in a free practice crash at Assen.

The 27-year-old Italian 'high-sided' his bike about halfway through the opening session and was taken to hospital for further checks.

The team said Rossi had fractured a small bone in his right hand and dislocated another in his ankle but was otherwise unhurt.

The Dutch race tomorrow follows a crash-strewn Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona last weekend in which six riders fell at the first corner.

Ducati's Spaniard Sete Gibernau is absent from Assen after requiring surgery for a fractured collarbone but Italians Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri have recovered and took part in yesterday's practice.

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