Adam Cianciarulo will miss the remainder of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season to repair damage to his ulnar nerve, the rider announced Thursday on Instagram.
Cianciarulo has suffered through the ulnar nerve issue since 2019. The damage slowed him at the ends of races in 2020, but he attributed it to arm pump. As he has gradually lost ever more strength toward the ends of motos, it became apparent that something else was going on. Cianciarulo hoped to be able to push his surgery until the end of the 2021 MX season.
Cianciarulo finished the 2021 Supercross championship 16th in the standings.
“It continued to get worse this past off-season to the point where I couldn’t do more than a few laps at a time,” Cianciarulo said on Instagram. “After a lot of tests and scans, I had nerve decompression procedure right before SX ‘21. I’ve experienced minor relief from that, but not enough to be myself out there.
“I lose what feels like most of the strength in my right hand gradually as I’m riding. I’ve tried to be smart and do my best—but at this point the only logical decision is to get it fixed. It’s a relatively simple procedure, but it will put me out for the rest of this season. This has been difficult, mentally and physically. It’s driven me mad a few times if I’m honest. I’ve learned a lot about focusing on the things you can control and not getting lost worrying about the things you can’t.”
Last week Cianciarulo went down early in Moto 1 at Spring Creek. He was remounted, but was unable to complete that race. He did not ride in Moto 2 and as a result earned no points for the round. Cianciarulo dropped from seventh to ninth in the championship standings, 115 points out of the lead.
Cianciarulo earned two overall podiums early in the season at Thunder Valley and High Point Raceway in Rounds 2 and 3 respectively. He earned a moto win at High Point, but has not finished better than fifth in his last five motos.
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