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There we were this time last year after the penultimate race, buzzing from the thrilling action we had just seen at the Portuguese Grand Prix where Toni Elias pipped Valentino Rossi to the line by just 0.002 seconds. It was an epic.
Nicky Hayden, the then world championship leader, had been knocked off by his team-mate Dani Pedrosa in a truly unbelievable move that was never going to come off. Pedrosa's mentor, Alberto Puig, later said that even though Pedrosa was 34 points behind Hayden going into the race, the championship was still achievable. Yeah, right.
Kenny Roberts Jr thought the win was his as he crossed the line, only to realise that there was another lap to go. He eventually finished third. Elias came storming through to blitz them for the victory. Edwards was a 'distant' fourth, less than 0.9s off the win. He was dumbfounded at the pace of the race, and the speed at which Elias came through the order from 11th on the grid.
The champagne was sprayed, Rossi led the championship by 8 points going into the last round and Elias had just sealed his ride for 2007 with his first MotoGP victory.
