Centurian Rossi pays tribute to Yamaha

The 30-year-old Italian cruised to victory after seeing off a mid-race challenge from Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, then stopped on the track on his slowing lap to join his fan club in unfurling a giant banner commemorating his 100 wins in the sport.

"For me it is great," Rossi said afterwards. "I am so happy and I think this is a special day in my life that I will never forget because getting to 100 [victories] is a great result.

"In this occasion I want to say thank you to all my people in the pits - Jerry Burgess and all the guys. And Yamaha, today the bike is great, fantastic. But especially Yamaha have treated me in a great way and given me a lot of motivation in these last four or five years.

"But I have to also say thank you to my friends and family and to the close to me who have helped me and given me a lot of motivation.

"I'm the second rider in history to reach a 100 after Giacomo Agostini and I am so happy, but I hope to have more seasons to increase the number and fight with the other guys."

Rossi added that he always felt confident of winning the race having taken the lead from Casey Stoner on the second lap of the race.

"I am so happy because it was a great race," Rossi told the BBC. "I felt good from the first lap so I decided to push at the maximum and take some advantage because I know that especially [Jorge] Lorenzo was difficult to beat.

"But I had a great pace today, with this temperature the tyres worked very well, but especially Yamaha is very strong at this track."