Lorenzo 'happy' after arm surgery.

MotoGP's newest race winner - and joint world championship leader - Jorge Lorenzo is recovering well after a successful operation on his right arm.

Despite a stunning start to the 2008 season, the 20-year-old has suffered from forearm pain due to Compartmental Syndrome, commonly known as 'arm pump', during his first three premier-class races.

The surgical procedure, fairly common amongst MotoGP and Motocross riders, aims to loosen the muscle compression inside the arm in order to relieve pain and loss of strength, which typically occurs with Compartmental Syndrome when the muscle is under stress.

The decision was taken to go ahead on Monday, less than a day after his Estoril victory, so that the Fiat Yamaha star can use the two-weekend break to recover before the next race, in China on 4th May.

Lorenzo held a press conference this afternoon in Barcelona together with his manager Dani Amatriain, his mother Mar?a Guerrero and Dr. Xavier Mir, head of arm surgery at the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona. Lorenzo will fly to London within the next few days to continue his recuperation programme at home.

"I was a little bit scared before the operation but today I'm very happy because it seems that everything has gone as well as we could have hoped!" declared Lorenzo, who has stunned the motorcycle world with three pole positions and three podiums from his first three MotoGP races.

"It was a hard decision to make but I think it was the best one for us because China is close, but not too close and we have time to recover. I have had pain at all three races, including Portugal, and at times it was very hard to ride the bike at the maximum, so we knew that the operation was the right course of action.

"Together with my surgeon we decided to operate on only one arm, the right, because in this way the recovery will be quicker than if we had done both. It seems that, with many other riders, doing just one arm has solved the problem. At the moment we believe that this is enough, but we will reassess after the next race.

"The doctor assures me that I will be in China and able to ride. There isn't so much time but this is the last possible opportunity before the summer break, without having to miss races. I have some time to recover now and I will be doing the maximum to make sure I am in good shape in China - in fact I'll be there whatever, even if I have to ride with only one hand!

"Now I will return to my home in London as soon as possible and relax there before I fly to China. The biggest problem at the moment is that it's quite hard to do things for myself, so my mother is going to have to look after me!" he smiled.

"The operation has been a success and the wounds are healing quickly," added Dr Mir. "We decided to only operate on one arm because we believe it is better to enable Jorge to arrive in the best shape in China. Many riders have had this kind of operation and time has shown that they often don't need the operation on the other arm. Jorge now starts his recovery and, with an elite athlete such as him, we expect it to be quicker than usual."