Stoner thrilled to be back on the pace

The world champion lost a potential podium to an engine problem at Le Mans a fortnight ago, having shown encouraging pace in the early stages.

But there were no such problems in Italy, and he was able to fight for the lead with Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa initially before taking second.

"This season's been a bit disappointing for us - we haven't been running where we should be," Stoner said.

"Today and at Le Mans, we've been a lot more confident with the set-up. We've worked hard and found some solutions that have made the bike really competitive again."

Stoner felt he might have been able to push Rossi harder at the end if he hadn't lost ground running wide in the middle of the race.

"Today was an awesome race," he said. "We led off the start and I didn't want to push too hard because the front tyre definitely took a few laps to bed in.

"Then Valentino came past, and there was one part of the circuit where I was losing a little bit too much time. I tried to make it up around the rest of the circuit and I unfortunately ran wide at the first turn and lost a position and pretty much lost the tow of Valentino.

"We knew today that the bike would be a lot better at the end of the race. We were very confident with the settings at the end. Unfortunately I was too far back and it didn't work out perfectly, but we're very, very happy with today."