Dani Pedrosa’s career as test rider for KTM has gotten off to an unlucky start. The Spaniard has suffered another broken collarbone, and will require surgery and a long recovery process before he can start testing again.
Pedrosa’s injury is a legacy of the many previous times he has broken his collarbone. The right collarbone is severely weakened after being broken twice before, and having surgery to fit plates.
That has left him with a so-called sclerotic lesion on the collarbone, which means that bone growth in the collarbone is very slow. That, and a lack of blood flow to the bone, has left him with osteoporosis, and a weakened collarbone.
Just how weakened is clear from the fact that Pedrosa managed to break the bone without any particular physical impact.
He had broken it as a result of ‘a gesture of strength’, he said in a press release, by which he presumably means a sudden and strong movement.
That endemic weakness means Pedrosa faces a long recovery process. He is to undergo treatment with stem cells to help promote bone growth and strengthen the bone, to prevent a recurrence.
The length of the recovery period means that Pedrosa will miss KTM’s program set out for the first part of the year, and will only resume work once his collarbone is fully healed.
Pedrosa was due to take part in the shake down test at Sepang, to be held ahead of the official MotoGP test there at the start of February. Fortunately for Pedrosa, he has already been able to help KTM, having ridden the bike during a test in December.
Source: KTM
Comments