Stoner was expecting a lot more

Ducati rider Stoner was denied the chance of winning the title early after Yamaha rival Valentino Rossi took his fourth victory of the season at Estoril.

Honda's Dani Pedrosa finished a close second, while Stoner had to settle for third after suffering from a clutch problem that slowed him down.

Stoner was unable to fight for victory, but the Australian finished just 1.4 seconds behind Rossi.

Despite that, Stoner admitted he was hoping for more.

"We had a lot higher expectations going into the race, at least to be there on the last lap, battling," said Stoner. "We thought we had a pretty good set-up, but about five laps into the race I started having a problem with the clutch and it was hitting neutral.

"I couldn't brake as late as these guys without running wide."

Despite Rossi's win, Stoner remains the favourite to take the title with 287 points, 76 ahead of the Italian, with just four races remaining.