Dani Pedrosa led throughout to take his first victory of the season at the Italian round at Mugello. Jorge Lorenzo finished second to tighten his grip in a title race which, for the time being, is missing Valentino Rossi.
The Italian, 31, watched his home race – he lives in nearby Tavullia – unfold from his hospital bed in Florence, where he is recovering from surgery to pin the compound fracture of his right tibia, an injury sustained in a crash during Saturday's free practice.
Rossi high-sided over his Fiat Yamaha and landed awkwardly. He was airlifted to a specialist clinic for the operation and is expected to remain there for the rest of this week, with a racing return unlikely for at least two months.
The crash ended a run of 230 grands prix by Rossi since his debut in 1996, during which time he won nine titles. This year he was running second in the points to his team-mate Lorenzo, who now has a real chance of taking the sport's elite crown for the first time.
Lorenzo realises after this latest race, however, that nothing comes easily as he had to overcome the determined challenge of Andrea Dovizioso to take second place after the first five hard laps, by which time pole starter Dani Pedrosa had taken charge of the race.
Pedrosa moved into second place in the standings, 25 points down on Lorenzo, who reflected: "It was a very tough race for me. I struggled as the tyres were not working well and Dani was very fast."
No comments:
Post a Comment