Rossi takes home win at Mugello

The result took Rossi's unbeaten run at Mugello to six races. The Italian has only lost at the track once since joining the MotoGP field, and now boasts eight victories at the venue when his 125cc and 250cc successes are considered.

Rossi recovered from a poor start to lead by lap nine, and then escaped from the field in company with Pedrosa.

Before Rossi and Pedrosa made their break at half-distance, a horde of riders had fought over the race lead.

Stoner led away from pole while Rossi fell to eighth at the first corner.

Pedrosa made a superb getaway from eighth and came close to snatching third as they braked for San Donato for the first time, but was squeezed back to sixth as Loris Capirossi moved up to second ahead of Chris Vermeulen and gave the factory Ducati team an early one-two on home ground.

Then on lap four Capirossi accelerated past his teammate and took the lead of a race for the first time in 2007.

Stoner then lost another place to Marco Melandri, who went right around the outside of the championship leader at San Donato.

The Gresini rider only stayed ahead for a lap before Stoner flew past him on the straight. Seconds later Stoner moved straight back into the lead as Capirossi slid wide at the first corner and dropped to fifth.

Pedrosa slipped past Melandri at the same time and then began attacking Stoner for the lead, making it through on lap seven.

He was followed by Rossi, who had rapidly picked off the riders ahead after his poor start and then slipped past title rival Stoner as well.

The former champion then thrilled his massed home fans by passing Pedrosa for the lead into Scarperia on lap nine of 23. Pedrosa tried to retaliate at San Donato next time around, then settled in behind Rossi as the pair pulled away from the rest of the field.

But as Rossi's pace increased, Pedrosa was unable to stay with him, ultimately finishing three seconds adrift.

In their wake, Stoner came under attack from Alex Barros' customer Pramac D'Antin Ducati, the Brazilian slipping ahead into San Donato with three laps remaining and then beating the factory bike to the final podium spot.

John Hopkins dropped back from this battle to finish a lonely fifth, ahead of Toni Elias and Capirossi.

Front row starter Vermeulen fended off Melandri, Nicky Hayden and Alex Hofmann to take eighth, with Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards only able to reach 12th, ahead of Shinya Nakano, after his poor qualifying performance.

Kawasaki were unable to turn their promising grid positions into points finishes, with both Olivier Jacque and Randy de Puniet dropping back quickly when the race began. De Puniet fell on the second lap, while Jacque finished a distant 16th.

Pos  Rider             Bike       Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha     42:42.385
 2.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda      +   3.074
 3.  Alex Barros       Ducati     +   5.956
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati     +   6.012
 5.  John Hopkins      Suzuki     +  13.244
 6.  Toni Elias        Honda      +  19.255
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati     +  19.646
 8.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki     +  22.810
 9.  Marco Melandri    Honda      +  22.837
10.  Nicky Hayden      Honda      +  24.413
11.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati     +  24.781
12.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha     +  28.001
13.  Shinya Nakano     Honda      +  36.733
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha     +  45.098
15.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha     +  45.145
16.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki   +  45.217
17.  Kenny Roberts Jr  KR         +1:27.222

Not classified/retirements:

     Carlos Checa      Honda      9
     Kurtis Roberts    KR         3
     Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki   1