The eight-time MotoGP world champion celebrated his first win in 581 days in the German Grand Prix in June, after his career had been on hold following a fall which broke his arm at Jerez in the first race of the 2020 season. He missed the whole of 2020 and the start of 2021, only returning to full action at the Portuguese Grand Prix in April. After his victory in Germany, he also won at the Grand Prix of the Americas and at Emilia Romagna. However, his season came to a premature end after he suffered concussion and double vision in a moto-cross training accident, which forced him to miss the last two races of the year.