Marc Marquez will be back in action for this weekend's French MotoGP at Le Mans, his first outing of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season since the opening round in Portimao.

The Spaniard fractured the first metacarpal on his right hand following a collision with Miguel Oliveira during the early stages of the curtain raising Portuguese MotoGP.

With Marquez - who has been beset by a litany of injuries over the past three seasons - necessitating surgery to aid recovery, doctors advised him against competing in the following Argentina, USA and Spanish rounds of the season over fears applying too much pressure to the hand could re-injure him.

Now, however, medics are satisfied that Marquez is in sufficient shape to contest this weekend's French MotoGP round, an event he has won on three occasions in the premier class.

 “I am really happy to be back with the Repsol Honda Team, about to ride my bike again. First of all I want to thank my medical team for their professionalism and advice over the past few weeks.

"Of course as a rider you always want to be back as soon as possible, but with an injury like this it was really important to allow it to heal.

"Now I am here and fully focused on riding, I have no worries about the injury since it’s fully healed. Let’s see what the French GP brings and most importantly, work to our maximum.”

CLICK HERE for the 2023 MotoGP World Championship standings ahead of Round 5, the French MotoGP