Pedrosa blames tyres for race slump

The pole-winner, who had finished on the podium at every race this year until Le Mans, fell back to fourth in the race and consequently lost his championship lead to the victorious Valentino Rossi.

"I am sorry because we could have been on the podium but in the race I wasn't able to go as fast as I had gone during practice," Pedrosa said.

"From the beginning of the race I had some issues with the front tyre, I couldn't brake the way I wanted to brake.

"When we chose our race tyres we tried hard to choose the best tyres for the race, so we didn't expect things to turn out like they did.

"Then in the second half of the race I started to lack some rear grip. When (Jorge) Lorenzo passed me I tried to go with him and not lose contact but I couldn't manage it.

"I gave my maximum and despite the problems we finished fourth, which isn't so bad. We are second equal in the championship and we will continue to work hard to achieve better results at the next races."

Pedrosa's teammate Nicky Hayden had struggled for speed all weekend, and although he salvaged sixth on the grid, he feared that this would prove to be a one-off lap and he would fall back in the race.

His concerns proved well founded, as the 2006 champion came home a distant eighth.

"That wasn't too pretty," Hayden said. "All weekend we've been missing something, the pace hasn't been there.

"I got a good start and recovered a couple of positions but couldn't go with the group I needed to go with. I was hanging in there, then I ran off the track in Turn 6, got in just a little bit hot, didn't make it and that lost me three positions.

"I came back on, had a little dice with Loris (Capirossi) over the last few laps but it wasn't the result we wanted."

Hayden, who has not finished on the podium since last July, said he is now desperate to turn his season around.

"I need to try getting some momentum going, especially for the tracks I really love that are coming up," he said. "I need to be strong when I get to them, I need to use the people around me to find what I need."