Assen MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa replaced by Hiroshi Aoyama

Repsol Honda has confirmed that Dani Pedrosa will not make his long awaited MotoGP comeback in Assen this weekend.

San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama will take his place alongside world championship leader Casey Stoner and Italian Andrea Dovizioso.

HRC test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi will partner Marco Simoncelli in Fausto Gresini’s satellite squad, with Honda optimistic Pedrosa will be back action in Mugello next week.

The Spaniard has been sidelined with a broken right collarbone since the Le Mans round in mid-May and he’s undergone two operations on the damaged bone in his shoulder.

Pedrosa suffered the injury in a controversial collision with Simoncelli, but a slow healing process has hampered his comeback.

Having undergone surgery to plate and pin the collarbone after the Le Mans crash, he underwent a further earlier this month after a fragment of bone had been found dislodged.

Rumours have spread like wildfire though that Pedrosa’s return was delayed by a supermoto training accident that aggravated the initial injury.