Dani Pedrosa could be set for a spell on the sidelines after his Repsol Honda team confirmed that the MotoGP challenger broke his collarbone during yesterday's French Grand Prix.
Pedrosa, 25, has only recently returned from surgery to remove a plate from the left collarbone he fractured in Japan last year and the Spaniard has now broken his other one.
He crashed out of second place in the race at Le Mans following a coming together with Marco Simoncelli.
A team statement said: ‘Immediately following yesterday's race, Dani Pedrosa returned to Barcelona with the X-ray scans from the Le Mans circuit medical centre.
‘He visited his doctors at Teknon Medical Centre and further medical tests confirmed a clean break of the right collarbone.
‘Pedrosa spent the night in the hospital, immobilised with a compressive dressing, and will decide in the next few days if he will undergo surgery to repair the fracture with a new plate or let the bone heal itself without intervention.’
The incident, which came after Pedrosa had briefly raced ahead of pole-sitter and eventual winner Casey Stoner, resulted in Simoncelli, who ended fifth, being handed a ride-through penalty for an ‘illegal manoeuvre’.
Simoncelli has come under fire from several riders including defending champion Jorge Lorenzo for his overly aggressive style in recent weeks.
Pedrosa is currently third in the overall standings on 61 points, 17 behind leader Lorenzo with Stoner in second place.
