Rossi Ends Three Year Drought

The early laps of the race saw Pedrosa take over at the front ahead of Rossi and Marquez, building a gap to the Italian's Yamaha and his Honda teammate.

However, Rossi started to reel him in and on lap six passed the Spaniard as the Honda started its decline.
“I'm very happy and can't believe the victory after a lot of time,” Rossi told broadcasters after the race. “I worked very hard and never gave up. We made a big step forward with the race and I rode better.”

Spanish youngster, Marc Marquez, claimed his sixth podium of the season with second ahead of pole sitter Cal Crutchlow. Championship leader Dani Pedrosa, could only manage fourth with Jorge Lorenzo finishing fifth, despite riding with a broken collarbone suffered in a practice crash on Thursday.

Cal Crutchlow had become the first British rider to claim a MotoGP pole position in over a decade during Friday's qualifying, and he managed to keep pace with Marquez and Pedrosa throughout the race before passing Pedrosa's number 26 Honda to claim third.

“It was too little, too late again,” Crutchlow said. “We cannot ride for the first 10 laps, then come strong at the end.”

In a strong debut season, Bradley Smith continued to impress by claiming his fifth top ten finish by battling off Andrea Dovizioso to take ninth place.

Results:

1. Valentino Rossi
2. Marc Marquez
3. Cal Crutchlow
4. Dani Pedrosa
5. Jorge Lorenzo
6. Stefan Bradl
7. Alvaro Bautista
8. Aleix Espargaro
9. Bradley Smith
10. Andrea Dovizioso