Pedrosa to return from surgery at French GP

"My recovery has gone well, I think I was right to be patient and take it slowly, and to respect the time frames that I needed," the Spaniard said in a blog for team sponsor Repsol on Tuesday.

(Reuters)

"Now, finally, I can tell you that I will be in Le Mans this weekend."

Pedrosa, 29, had been replaced by Japanese stand-in Hiroshi Aoyama in the U.S., Argentine and Spanish rounds as team mate to double world champion Marc Marquez.

The rider, who had surgery on April 3, had been predicted a recovery time of four to six weeks and said he was keen to get back.

He has suffered from a problem common among motorcycle racers when pressure builds up in the forearm and causes intense pain, making riding a bike difficult when the muscle becomes too big for the 'sack' that it sits in.

Pedrosa has not won a MotoGP race since the Czech Grand Prix last August and was sixth in the season-opener in Qatar.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by John O'Brien)