Stoner rues lack of dry running

The Ducati rider led from pole in the dry race, but ultimately fell back to fourth, while title rival Valentino Rossi took victory and moved to within nine points of Stoner in the standings.

"We knew we weren't going to be the most competitive today," Stoner told BBC television.

"I was going to give it a go, but we really didn't have enough time to get the settings right.

"Most of the teams have got a fair bit of knowledge for this track because they're using the same bikes as last year. We could have just done with that extra session, but anyway I'm happy with a top four result.

"Anybody who really loves to win has got to be disappointed with a fourth place but we've come away from here with more knowledge and more experience and we can just take that to the next European circuit."

Prior to Mugello, Stoner had won three of the five races held so far in 2007, but he said he had been expecting his run of success to come to an end.

"I wasn't thinking about the championship," he said.

"We've had a great run at the beginning of the season and it couldn't have really kept going like that, I don't think.

"But we're going to come back and try and be stronger at the next one and see what we can get out of that."