Dani Pedrosa told shoulder still not fully recovered

Dani Pedrosa’s troublesome left shoulder injury has still not fully recovered more than six months after he first damaged it in Japan last October.

The Spaniard suffered a recurrence of a numbness issue in his left arm and hand during last weekend’s season opening Qatar MotoGP at the Losail International Circuit.

He was dicing for the lead with Repsol Honda team-mate Casey Stoner when he suddenly started to encounter problems and faded back to third position behind reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The problem can be traced back to the practice crash at the Twin Ring Motegi last October when he suffered extensive damage to his left shoulder. The throttle jammed on his factory RC212V machine and forced him to miss three races.

When he returned in Estoril and Valencia, Pedrosa suffered the numbness issue in the second half of the race, but thought the winter lay-off had cured the problem.
He experienced no repeat of the issue during winter testing but at no stage did he come close to completing a full race simulation.

But in Qatar the problem re-surfaced and Pedrosa seemed in some distress at the end of the 22-lap race.

He flew back to Europe and underwent checks in Barcelona with specialists to assess the shoulder problem. The results showed there is no vascular or nerve compression in the canal of the collarbone, but there is a small stretch in the plexus, which is gradually improving but will need more time to finish healing completely.

The triple world champion, who is preparing for his home race in Jerez next weekend, said: “I honestly didn’t expect my arm would react in this way because during pre-season I didn’t feel too much trouble and I thought the problem was solved. However, I felt really bad in the Qatar race and was aware that the injury is not completely healed. It was a shame because in Qatar I had a good feeling and until the second half of the race – which is when the pain started – I was really strong and I saw a realistic chance of winning. I would be lying if I said I’m not disappointed because this year the bike is working very well and physically I feel good, but unfortunately this complication has arisen and I have nothing else to do but give my best until the injury heals completely”.