English
Italiano
He stayed in the shadows, working on his pace right from Friday. Yesterday he had to settle for eighth place on the grid but he had it all under control. Choosing the soft front tyre proved to be the winning move for Daniel Pedrosa. Analytical, cold, unstoppable: these three words sum up the Spaniard's stellar performance at Misano.
The Honda rider emerged part way through the race, first getting the better of Dovizioso and Vinales, before also skilfully overtaking Marquez and Lorenzo. Nine laps from the end he made his move on Rossi, who had dominated the race up until that moment. The Doctor tried to ward off the attack but to no avail. Pedrosa was on another level, with the pace to return to the highest step of the rostrum, after his last win at Sepang. He is the eighth different race winner that we've seen this season: “I'm really pleased with this result, because it comes after a difficult period – explained #26 – I had constant pace, and proved to be competitive over the entire weekend". With this result, he equals the 52 wins achieved by Phil Read. Since 2002, he has won at least one race every year.
Valentino had to settle for second place. His face is that of one who has given it his all: "I did all I could to stay in front of Marquez and Lorenzo – commented #46 - unfortunately there was nothing I could do about Daniel. His pace was too much and it was impossible to keep hold of the lead.”
Jorge Lorenzo, the polesitter, also reached the podium today. Not even he was able to stave off Pedrosa and Rossi: “Daniel and Valentino had better pace – he admitted - I'm pleased for Dani because he's had a difficult time of it and this is a great day for him.”
Marc Marquez missed out on the podium today, forced to settle for fourth place and suffering particularly in the second half of the race. He was followed across the line by Vinales, Dovizioso and Pirro. Also closing inside the top ten were Pol Espargarò, Crutchlow and the Aprilia of Bautista.
