Pedrosa says confidence restored after Barcelona MotoGP race

The Honda rider had struggled to get close to team-mate Marc Marquez in the early part of the 2014 season, and was further hampered when he took longer than expected to recover from arm pump surgery carried out between the Spanish and French Grands Prix.

But last weekend Pedrosa became the first man to defeat Marquez in qualifying this year, then came close to beating him to the race victory, twice getting ahead on the final lap only for his team-mate to successfully retaliate each time.

Although Pedrosa finished only third after a brush with Marquez three corners from the finish allowed Valentino Rossi's Yamaha to get between the Hondas, he said missing out on victory barely mattered given the confidence boost his resurgence had given him.

"I'm really happy with the race and the weekend overall," he said.

"After Mugello my target was to build on my weaknesses I had - such as qualifying, the start, the first few laps, overtaking and things like this - and I managed to do this.

"It was my target to improve step by step, so the first step was to do a good qualifying. This gave me some confidence to do a good start.

"When I had a good start I told myself 'OK, now I'm here so I will try and keep up the pace', and I had a really good feeling so I could stay [at the front] for the first few laps, even though the pace was already very fast."

He admitted he had still been concerned that his arm issues would flare up again as the race progressed, but reckons Barcelona proved that problem is now behind him.

"Physically I have improved a lot; my arm feels much better now," said Pedrosa.

"I had a little bit of doubt in a race with so many laps, but it was much better than in Mugello, Le Mans and the previous races.

"I'm very pleased with this and it will give me more confidence for the next race."