Pedrosa says trying to match Lorenzo's pace felt too risky in fight for MotoGP victory at Mugello

Lorenzo ultimately won the Mugello race by five seconds, having passed poleman Pedrosa at the start. The Honda man then lost some ground battling with Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso before trying to chase down Lorenzo.

"At the first corner I braked late, but I missed it a little bit and Jorge was already there," he said.

"Some corners afterwards, I got surprised by Dovizioso - he also passed me. It took me some laps to overtake him. He was so strong at the first corner, so I had to manage it at another part of the circuit. By then Lorenzo had already opened a small gap."

Pedrosa said Lorenzo's pace was more than his Honda could manage.

"I tried to get back to my rhythm," he said. "I was doing laps later on in the 1m47s, but immediately when I was in 1m47s I started to [wheel]spin a lot in the rear and I had a lot of chattering at the rear suddenly, so I was a little bit worried for the rear tyre.

"I decided to slow down a bit. To catch Jorge would mean going all the way in the 1m47s, and he was really so strong.

"Second place is a good result overall."

The Mugello result leaves Pedrosa 19 points behind Lorenzo in the championship.