Pedrosa: Second a vital result

The Spaniard fell right back to 11th as he had trouble getting up to speed in the wetter early part of the race, before recovering to 11th but then dropping off the pace again. He was passed by Ben Spies, then regained the runner-up spot when the Yamaha crashed.

"It wasn't easy at the beginning," Pedrosa admitted. "I was 11th or something, but I could catch up and get to the second place, which is something very, very important for me."

Although Pedrosa has been struggling with his fitness due to an issue with a plate on his collarbone that has been leading to numbness in his arms, he said the bigger issue at Jerez was his wet tyres fading on the drying track - a factor that caused many other frontrunners to crash.

"At the end I was really struggling with grip," said Pedrosa. "On the straight I couldn't go on the gas, so I didn't know want to do really. I was trying to stay on two wheels.

"It was hard to see everybody crashing, but at the same time you have to keep the pace up."

Pedrosa will have surgery on his collarbone problem tomorrow, and with a four-week gap until the next round in Estoril, the Spaniard is optimistic that it will have no effect on his title bid.

"Tomorrow I have big surgery so I hope everything goes well and I can be back for Estoril," he said.