Valentino Rossi took his first win of the season at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España on Sunday, beating Dani Pedrosa to the line by a 2.7s margin in front of a huge Spanish crowd in Andalusia.
Pedrosa led for the first half of the race having made one of his trademark strong starts from second on the grid, but Rossi took the lead with ten laps to go and did not look back there and his triumph gives him an 11 point lead in the general standings. MotoGP.com
Pedrosa was able to maintain second position and therefore continue his remarkable record of never finishing lower than second at a Jerez MotoGP race, while Stoner faced a late race attack from Lorenzo.
The Spaniard, whose Motegi victory last weekend had given him the world championship lead, was strangely off pace for the first half of the race - and almost seven seconds behind Pedrosa by the midway stage.
However the Spaniard, 22 years old on Monday, found form thereafter, closing to within less than one second of third place Stoner with four laps to go - when he lost the front of his M1 and dramatically lowsided into the gravel.
Lorenzo’s exit left Stoner to claim his first ever Jerez podium, at his and Ducati’s toughest track, while Randy de Puniet rode a faultless race to claim an excellent fourth for LCR Honda. Yahoo! Eurosport
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