Pedrosa rues inconsistent pace

In only his second race on Bridgestone tyres, the Honda rider moved up from fifth to second at the start and then passed Casey Stoner's Ducati for the lead soon afterwards.

But although Pedrosa was able to dice with Stoner and Valentino Rossi at first, he didn't have the speed to fend them off and lost touch with the duo once they had overtaken him.

"At the beginning I tried to be fast, but I couldn't," Pedrosa told BBC television.

"I tried to understand a little bit, and after some laps I could get a better rhythm than in the beginning, but by that time I had already lost distance to Rossi and Casey."

Rossi went on to take the victory and clinch his sixth MotoGP title - a success Pedrosa believes the Italian fully deserves.

"Right now, Rossi is so fast at every track," he said. "Compliments to him because he did a great season."

Pedrosa had retained an outside chance of the world title going into today's race, and remains third in the championship with three rounds remaining.