Rossi leads final free practice

Rossi moved to the top of the times a third of the way through the hour-long session, before being dethroned soon after by Ducati's Casey Stoner and fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards.

Rossi didn't return to the top again until two-thirds during the session, setting a time of 1:59.766. Despite some strong efforts by Stoner and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, this looked good enough to hold on to top spot, until an effort by Pedrosa at the very end of the session.

That lap by Pedrosa was 0.028 of a second faster than Rossi's earlier effort, but Rossi himself was on a quick lap at the time, and eclipsed Pedrosa's mark to finish the session on top with a time of 1:59.690, the fastest lap of the weekend so far.

Just behind Rossi is the aforementioned Pedrosa, with Stoner just over two-tenths behind Rossi. Less than half a second behind Rossi are Colin Edwards on his Tech 3 Yamaha, and for the second session in a row, a last-minute lap by Shinya Nakano vaulted him up the order, this time to fifth-fastest.

2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden was next fastest, just eleven thousandths faster than Suzuki's Loris Capirossi whose strong weekend continues. John Hopkins, Andrea Dovizioso and Chris Vermeulen round out the top ten runners.

The times remain tightly grouped all the way down to fourteenth fastest, 1.1 seconds off Rossi's pace, occupied by Rossi's teammate, Jorge Lorenzo on his Fiat Yamaha.

While Lorenzo's times appear competitive enough that he is likely to continue riding this weekend, he is suffering off the bike, barely able to walk, emphasised by his decision to stay on the bike and be wheeled into the garage the first time he arrived in the pits, rather than hop off and walk the few metres inside.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:59.690
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  1:59.738  + 0.048
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:59.908  + 0.218
 4.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:00.102  + 0.412
 5.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:00.141  + 0.451
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:00.339  + 0.649
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:00.350  + 0.660
 8.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:00.553  + 0.863
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:00.621  + 0.931
10.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:00.692  + 1.002
11.  Toni Elías        Ducati    (B)  2:00.715  + 1.025
12.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:00.731  + 1.041
13.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:00.751  + 1.061
14.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:00.799  + 1.109
15.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:01.081  + 1.391
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:01.476  + 1.786
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:01.487  + 1.797
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:01.502  + 1.812