Colin Edwards’ final year in MotoGP has come to an abrupt end with an announcement today that he will be replaced for the rest of the season by Alex De Angelis.

At Indianapolis on Friday, Edwards said he wasn’t sure what the rest of the season held for him but that he would definitely be riding at Silverstone and Valencia as he bade a fond farewell to his home MotoGP crown.

“Sure, it’s emotional. I keeping seeing people I have seen through my whole career and I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Edwards.

“I won’t be at Brno but for sure at Silverstone and Valencia. Other than that, we are going to play it by ear and see what happens.”

However, team boss Giovanni Cuzari said this today: “I’d like to thank Colin Edwards for everything he has done for our team. Our adventure in MotoGP has started thanks to him. Two times World Superbike Champion and successful rider in MotoGP, he accepted the challenge of the CRT project with us, scoring the first ever pole position and CRT win in Qatar 2012 in the year debut of this new class. From that race we have constantly grown, improving the results.

“It was thanks to his experience that last year we chose the best package on the grid to race together in the new Open category. His contribution has been crucial and we now have eight wins out of 10 races. We will see Colin again this year as a wild card and he will always be part of the Forward Racing family. I’d like to thank Colin once again, he is an amazing rider and a great man.”