the picture simply shows rider toni elias working his visor. but the story behind the picture is an awsome story about perseverance, drive and strength.
to frame the context of the picture:
that, my friends, is 100% certified bad-ass.At the 2010 season opener, Elias had been getting around on crutches due to a broken left ankle he’d sustained at the Jerez test a few weeks earlier. Elias had also injured the little finger of his left hand, which had been repaired with five small screws and a plate. I’d known about the ankle, of which the crutches were an effective reminder. But I’d not realized he’s also had the finger operation, which helps explain the left glove. When Mike pointed out that Elias had had the finger problem as well as the ankle, I went back to the photos of that weekend and found, sure enough, a shot of Elias’s left side in which the long scar on his little finger is plainly visible. Apparently, something about the Dainese glove fit the injured digit better than his contracted equipment.
Thus this image has come to mean more than I originally thought. It’s not only an example of the things that go on behind the scenes, but also another instance of just how tough you have to be to make it in motorbike racing. Sometimes you have to endure being busted down to the minors, then begin what will turn out to be a championship season with a recently broken ankle, a plate and screws in your little finger, and a glove that won’t fit.