Jorge Lorenzo surprised he was able to escape from Casey Stoner at Misano

The reigning champion reduced Stoner's points lead to 35 with today's result, as Honda rider Stoner could only finish third after winning the last three grands prix.

Lorenzo and his Yamaha team had not taken a victory since Mugello at the start of July, but the Spaniard had been optimistic he could turn his form around at Misano ever since topping Friday's second practice session.

"We had to just not give up and keep working," said Lorenzo, who had failed to get onto the podium in the last two races at Brno and Indianapolis.

"The team has done a great job to get me a competitive bike again for this track. We made it. All weekend we've been so quick."

Stoner put Lorenzo under huge pressure in the first half of the race before fading to third, which allowed the Yamaha man to win by 7.3 seconds over Stoner's Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

"I really expected a very hard fight with Casey, but fortunately for me Casey lost a little bit of pace in the middle of the race and I could win a second victory in Italy," said Lorenzo. "This is very important."