Pedrosa still worried about hand injury

The Spaniard has been out of action since fracturing a bone in his hand during a crash at Sepang testing last month.

Although his doctors have given him the all-clear to return at Jerez, Pedrosa admits that he is still more worried that his hand is not back to full fitness than the testing time he has missed.

"We are evidently quite behind, I won't deny that," said Pedrosa at a press conference for his Repsol Honda team in Zaragoza. "But thinking about that right now won't be of any help.

"When I go to Jerez, the first thing I'll do, before trying to run fast, will be to see if I'm alright on the bike, which is what worries me the most. Once that's done I'll see how I am and how far I can go."

Pedrosa said his hand was still causing him some trouble, even though doctors are not worried about it.

"The truth is that it could be better, but it could be worse. The operation went well and everything is developing as expected; I might say even faster.

"But that does not alter the fact that we've got eight weeks for full recovery. They just took out the stitches and I have started doing exercises, but of course I still find moving my hand very difficult; it's a bit tense in all that area. Doctor Mir says that it's normal and that I should be patient."