Pedrosa rues costly qualifying crash

The Honda rider led off the line but was soon pushed back to third, and eventually fell 20s behind the battling leaders.

Pedrosa felt the mileage lost when he fell early in qualifying and had to return to the pits for his spare bike cost him crucial running and meant his set-up was not strong enough for him to challenge for victory today.

"All the weekend we were doing well, but I think we were not as strong as we thought for the race because after yesterday's crash we lost a lot of time," he said.

"I'm happy after the crash to be on the podium, but of course we will try to improve and be faster for the next race."

The Spaniard admitted that Stoner and Rossi's pace had come as a shock to him.

"They were going just super-fast today," he said. "The lap times were much quicker than yesterday. Their pace was too fast, I couldn't follow them.

"I just tried to be in third place at the end of the race. They were going away all the time so I just tried to keep my rhythm because I was not able to follow them."