Lorenzo expected Rossi to dominate

The Italian belied his pre-event pessimism by dominating every session and taking victory at Misano, extending his championship lead over Lorenzo back up to 30 points.

Lorenzo hoped after qualifying - where he had to settle for third - that he would be able to take the fight to Rossi in race trim, but after only managing sixth place in this morning's warm-up, the Spaniard realised victory was highly unlikely.

"After the warm-up I knew that it was going to be a difficult race," he said. "Today was a day to finish second I think, not to win, because Vale had the best pace all weekend. So I had to go for second position."

He briefly headed his team-mate on the opening lap as Rossi dropped back to fourth, but was unable to stay in front. Lorenzo also took longer than Rossi to get back past the fast-starting Pedrosa, and by the time he was ahead of the Honda his team-mate was out of reach.

"I did a not bad start," said Lorenzo. "I almost crashed at the second corner, because Dani went so fast and pushed me, but anyway I didn't crash and I wanted to be relaxed, to not really take risks.

"I had a great set-up of the bike and I could brake late. But it was quite difficult to pass Dani, because the Hondas have a lot of speed."