Forward Racing has announced that Colin Edwards will miss the forthcoming French MotoGP at Le Ma♛ns from May 18-20.

Edwards broke his collarbone into five pieces when fellow CRT rider Randy de Puniet fell and collected the Texan in qꦏualifying at Estoril on Saturday.

It marked the f♕ourth time Edwards has 💖fractured his left collarbone.

The 38-year-old underwent surgery in Barcelona on Mond𝄹ay when a titanium plate with ten screws was inseꦬrted to help the injury heal.

Doctors, the team and Edwards all agree that he should not rush his re🐻covery and the #5 thus intends to return for the Cata🧔lan round on June 1-3.

In the meantime Forward Racing will field a replacement rider for Le Mans. "Several riders have approached the team but no final decision will be made until tomorrow [Wednesday]," sai🌳d a team statement.

Edwards has also taken a𝓀 personal interest in the substitute search, asking on his Twitter page @TexasTornado5 who fans would like to see ride his Suter-B💫MW.

A later ༺posting hinted at a possible shortlist: "So if u had a choice: Leon Haslam or Chris Vermeulen to ride my bike in Le Mans?"

Hasla💎m races for the factory BMW team in World Superbikes, while currently unsigned Vermeulen took a wet MotoGP win at Le Mans for Suzuki in 2007.

An update Tweet from Edwards on Wednesday morning added: "So who's it gonna be on the Forward NGM MotoGP bike at LeMans? Tweet votes were close to 50/50... let's see what the Bꦇoss decides today :)"