Forward Racing has announced that Colin Edwards will miss the forthcoming French MotoGP a🌺t Le Mans from May 18-20.

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

It marked the fourth time Edwards has fractured his left c🎉ol♎larbone.

The 38-year-old underwent surgery in Barcelona on Monday when a titanium plate with t♋en screw♎s was inserted to help the injury heal.

Doctors, the team and Edwards all agree that he should not rush his recovery and the #5 thus int💟ends to return for the Catalan round on June 1-3.

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

Edwards has also taken a personal in𝓀terest in the substitute se🗹arch, asking on his Twitter page @TexasTornado5 who fans would like to see ride his Suter-BMW.

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

Haslam races for the factory BMW team in World Superbikes, whi💛le 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 th🎃e Forward NGM💦 MotoGP bike at LeMans? Tweet votes were close to 50/50... let's see what the Boss decides today :)"