Cal Crutchlow has explained why he is returning to MotoGP competition at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello this weekend - after having originally rejected the offer.

Crutchlow, who last raced in MotoGP in 2023 as a Yamaha wildcard, will ride as replacement for the injured Johann Zarco - who sustained significant damage to his knee in a crash at Barcelona a fortnight ago.

No timeline has been published, but Zarco's injuries suggest a lengthy recovery before he can reclaim the #5 LCR Honda - and LCR had no easy stand-in solutions.

This led to a call to the retired Crutchlow, whose comeback was rubber-stamped after a preparatory test at Misano on Wednesday.

Crutchlow said that after he got the call from LCR, he "went home and [my wife] Lucy said, 'did Dako [Dakota Mamola, LCR team coordinator] call you? And I said, 'yeah'.

"She said 'oh, yeah, because they called me first'! To get the blessing. 

"And I said, 'I'm not interested'. And she said, ‘why not?’ She said, 'you've done it your whole life, so I don't understand why you're not doing it'."

Crutchlow then mulled it over for a few hours before getting back to LCR. He told media his wife's insistence was a major reason why.

"I mean, she's been by my side my whole career, as we know. And I made decisions with her and she said to me - the words were, 'your life and our life has been an adventure our whole life. So why are we stopping now?' So 'I said, OK, I'm going'."

Only for LCR

Crutchlow also insisted, however, that Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR squad - with which he spent six seasons in MotoGP and took all three of his MotoGP wins - was the only team in the paddock with which he'd come back.

"I wouldn't have done it for another team. If the factory Ducati team rang me, I wouldn't have done it. If Aprilia rang me, I wouldn't have done it.

"I did it because Lucio and the team asked me to do it."

But he also insisted the possibility of a private test in the lead-up was a crucial prerequisite.

"If not, it's not right to come here after so long not riding and go into FP1 at 360km/h into Turn 1, you know?"

Crutchlow did not want to elaborate too much on whether he expected to do more rounds if anything goes well - though this was mostly because of "the situation with Johann, he is my friend".

"So I hope to see him soon."

The shock of the test

Crutchlow described the Misano test day as "not great, to be honest" because "everything was strange - but this was to be expected".

"I expected to be slower than what I was - but when I was not fast enough, I was pissed off."

He said the initial touch with the bike was "the biggest shock".

"I had the lap timer [on] -and I knew the laptime when I did when I was on the podium in Misano.

"And if I didn't look at the lap timer, when I was riding, I [would've] thought 'there is nobody can go around this track faster than me. Ever. It's f**king impossible. You know, I'm completely at the limit. Nobody will go faster than me.' 

"And I was 10 seconds too slow. This was in the first lap. And I looked down, I came in - I was thinking, 'I don't know whether to ask them whether the lap timer is broken or I just keep quiet for a minute'. 

"But over the day, obviously, everything improved.

"They [the new MotoGP bikes] are hard to ride. But I don't think they are any harder. It's just hard with the amount of time I've had not riding. It's as simple as that."