Before the Christmas holiday began, newly-added Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Marco Melandri underwent successful "clean-up" shoulder surgery.The 28-year-old rookie WSBK rider, who takes over for the departed Cal Crutchlow (Crutchlow takes Ben Spies' seat on the satellite Yamaha MotoGP team as Spies replaces Valentino Rossi on the factory Yamaha team), is is focused on fitness now, although still recovering from the surgery.Melandri is currently resting at home, completing one hour of training each day on a stationary exercise bike.
The Brit's main goal is to be fully fit for the opening round of World Superbike at Phillip Island on Feb. 27. But Melandri, a former 125 and 250cc MotoGP Champion, also hopes to be fully fit for the first official World Superbike tests of 2011 at Portimao in Portugal on Jan. 26.The Italian's first outings on a Yamaha Superbike at Valencia and Phillip Island revealed his immediate desire to be one of the front-runners in this new adventure, Yamaha says.And via his Twitter profile page, Melandri confirmed that on Friday the next stage of his rehabilitation program will see him switch from the exercise bike to the swimming-pool.