Image: Foremost Media.

Red Bull Troy Lee Designs Ducati recruit Justin Barcia is still targeting Anaheim 1 after a broken collarbone has impacted the majority of his 2026 pre-season.

Barcia, 33, was injured just one week into preparations for the upcoming Monster Energy Supercross series, where he will debut the all-new Desmo450 MX in the US.

“I broke my collarbone the first week, so a bit of a hiccup there,” Barcia confirmed. “I broke around the edge of my plate that was already in there, so it’s a little more tricky than a normal collarbone.

“Had to take the plate out, put my plate in, and move it over so there’s a lot of little holes from the screws that were there. We’re in a waiting pattern right now, it’s week by week at the moment.

“The unknown is the hardest thing, just not knowing if I’m going to be ready or not. But I really, like, it’s going to, I’ll be on the line [at A1]. I’m on the line. I’m racing. So that’s in my head. I’ve been, like, ‘I’m racing.’ I plan on it. I think it’s tight though, for sure.”

Despite missing much of the critical early stages of development with Ducati in Supercross trim, Barcia said his initial impressions on the bike were positive at the beginning of November. He’s yet to return to riding, one month out from the season-opening round.

“The first week – it was a lot of people I worked with back in the day – went super-smooth,” he added. “We didn’t have a ton of stuff to test, just a base set-up and it went extremely smooth. It’s going to be hard, it won’t be easy, but I am looking forward to being back.

“It’s tricky as well. You know, a new bike. I’ve never developed a new, new, new bike. So it’s different, but it was going fairly smoothly. As for the race team, they put together a really good crew – it’s kind of a little bit my old team from GEICO back in the day, you know, 2009 era.

“The bike, with the limited amount of time I had, [I noticed] it revs extremely high, which is a really good thing for me. It’s extremely unique – it’s different than anything I’ve experienced before – so it took some time getting used to, but the power characteristics of the bike are cool. I think it’ll be a benefit for me in supercross.”

In his final campaign with GASGAS Factory Racing last year, Barcia finished 10th in 450SX, 450MX and the 450SMX standings. He will be teamed with Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis at Ducati for the new season.