World champion Rossi is expected to be out of action for at least five months

Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi has been moved to a hospital closer to his home as he continues to recover from a badly broken right leg.

The 31-year-old Yamaha rider has already undergone four operations after suffering the injury in practice for the Italian MotoGP last Saturday.

The Italian has now left a hospital in Florence and moved to one in Cattolica, on the east coast of Italy.

He is expected to be out of action for five months.

Rossi will not be replaced for the next two races of the MotoGP season, team boss Davide Brivio has revealed.

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Regulations state a team must replace an injured rider after two races, but Brivio has insisted there is no rush, saying: "We will miss the next couple of races because that is allowed.

"If it were up to Yamaha to decide alone, we would not enlist anyone to take his place from now to the end of the championship."

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo will now be the team's solitary rider at the UK race at Silverstone next week and at Assen in the Netherlands on 26 June.

Brivio added: "If, as I think, Valentino stays out for longer [than two races] we have to find a replacement.

"It's very strange to speak about Valentino's replacement. But we will try to find the best solution we can."

The decision to delay appointing a new rider is likely to have been influenced by a lack of obvious replacements for the phenomenally successful Italian, who had not previously missed a race in 15 years of racing.

Brivio has already stated that the team's test riders are unsuitable while American superbike world champion Ben Spies is under contract to the non-works Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP team.

Despite the severity of the injury, Rossi has already quashed any rumours that he might not make a return to racing.

"Do not worry, I'll come back soon. I was afraid, now it's a lot better," he said on Saturday.

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