Pedrosa feeling in better shape

The Spaniard struggled with hip and leg injuries over recent weeks, and sat out the post-race test at Catalunya in the hope of being fitter for the Dutch TT.

After taking sixth place today, Pedrosa reckoned he was in better shape than he had been previously.

"Riding felt much better today than it did at the last race in Barcelona which is a positive sign," he said. "Even without any painkilling injection I was able to ride with quite a good pace this afternoon so I'm very happy about that.

"Now, after riding, it doesn't feel great and I have some pain, but that's to be expected. With some ice on it and some rest tonight, I'm expecting to feel in good shape for tomorrow's sessions."

He was also impressed with the new chassis that his Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso had tested at Catalunya.

"The feeling with the new chassis is good and I immediately felt much more comfortable than in Barcelona," said Pedrosa.

"I still need to learn more about the new chassis, but the initial feeling is positive, with improvements under braking and stability. Obviously, I need to do more laps to better understand its performance so we'll continue with that tomorrow."

Dovizioso ended the day one place ahead of Pedrosa in fifth.

"The final result from the session was pretty reasonable - fifth place and two tenths from the front is a decent start," he said.

"We'll be looking to make some more improvements tomorrow though because I'm not totally satisfied with how the practice went and we struggled a little to find a good feeling with the bike, in particular under braking and on corner entry.

"It was actually quite a difficult practice session for me because I wasn't feeling too well, so I'll get checked out at the Clinica Mobile and be ready for tomorrow."