Rossi in upbeat mood

Valentino Rossi is in good spirits and joking following an operation on a broken leg although he admits he was terrified immediately following his horrific fall on Saturday.

The Fiat Yamaha rider suffered a compound fracture of his right shinbone when he came off his bike in practice for the Italian MotoGP at Mugello and spent two and a half hours in surgery after being transferred to hospital by helicopter.

Rossi's bid to retain his world title has been ended by the injury which could see him sidelined for four to five months, however the 31-year-old remains upbeat.

"I'm pretty good," he said in Mediaset. "I thank all those at Mugello, I saw the banners and all the drivers who remembered me."

"Do not worry, I'll come back soon.

"I was afraid, now it's a lot better. It will take time, the important thing is to return to 100 percent."

"It was a bad fall, a bad injury, but it's going well because I've found that I have a great relationship with morphine!"

A lynchpin with four screws was applied to the break during the procedure, which was performed at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence by Roberto Buzzi.

Rossi, who has been told to expect another week in hospital, revealed he was set for a second operation on Monday.

He continued: "The operation went well, Professor Buzzi worked well and looked after me as a family member."

"Monday, there will be another operation to close the wound, then we will think about rehabilitation."

"I knew immediately that I had injured myself, seeing the foot a bit disconnected from the leg was bad."

"I saw the incident (on a replay) and it was awful, but it was much more so seeing it from the bike."

"They were difficult times, there was fear, then it got better. I was sedated. When I woke up there were the nurses who comforted me."

His absence from Sunday's grand prix at Mugello marked the first time the Italian has missed a race in his MotoGP career, but he was nevertheless eager to stay on top of the action.

"He has been moved to a more normal room in the hospital and the only requests he has made are for peace and quiet, privacy and a television on which to watch (Sunday's) race," said Buzzi.

"We are confident that Valentino will be able to leave the hospital in a week to 10 days, able to put weight on the leg with the aid of crutches."

"It is difficult to say how long the post-surgery rehabilitation will take. We need to evaluate the progress of the patient and also what the X-rays will show."

"But I think that we can reasonably think of six weeks of partial weight-bearing with crutches, after which Valentino needs to be re-evaluated, according to his feedback and further X-rays."