Stoner wins at Mugello on Rossi's turf

Rider Casey Stoner has broken Valentino Rossi’s streak at Mugello, since the Italian had been winning consecutively for seven seasons, so the Australian is back on top, and at a circuit where Ducati and he had never won before.

Before the race we had the first scare, as Jorge Lorenzo went down on the formation lap and had to rush into the pits to change his bike, which cost him afterwards at the start with a long slide that made him lose a lot of positions.

That is how the race began, declared wet as at Le Mans, since the track was wet but would not take long to dry, so we were expecting to see all the MotoGP riders change bikes once again.

Dani Pedrosa’s start, as always perfect, the truth is that the Catalan has become a great starter, since from eighth place he moved into first during the opening stages of the race, although afterwards he lost strength and was overtaken by several riders.

On that first lap, the Australian moved into first after giving Chris Vermeulen a lesson on the home straight; there is no doubt the Ducati was ready to achieve a good result, while behind them Rossi and Lorenzo were quickly recovering to get as close as possible to Stoner.

Meanwhile Dovizioso was unrecognisable: he had slipstreamed Stoner and was pressing, while on the other hand his teammate was losing positions. It was very noticeable that Pedrosa was not at 100% and that the injection had not removed all his pain.

On lap four the pit show began. The first to take the risk was James Toseland, who came in for a dry bike, while the rest of the riders preferred to wait a little longer.

Another surprise, and one that is becoming less unexpected by the day, is Marco Melandri, who with his Hayate is achieving great results. Today he was spectacular, especially in the wet part, reaching the front positions and delivering a good showing for the Italians, since Dovizioso was first, Rossi second and Melandri fourth.

From the eighth lap the bike changes began for the leading riders: Pedrosa and Dovizioso came in, and on the tenth lap the rest of the field did too, except Mika Kallio.

At that point the best was Dovizioso, who appeared in the front positions with warm tyres and gave everyone a lesson, taking the lead without problems. But it was not going to be that easy, and Stoner, Rossi and Lorenzo were not going to give up.

With 9 laps to go the Australian took back control of the race and did not let go until the end. Behind him a surprising Capirossi held on to second place, but an unleashed Lorenzo came charging from behind, all out. The beast in Lorenzo had awoken, and he moved into second after overtaking Dovizioso and Capirossi at the limit.

The shame is that with only two laps left he could not catch Stoner, since at the pace the Spaniard was setting he would have passed him without problems, but there were not enough laps. Meanwhile, behind, Rossi managed to overtake Dovizioso and moved into third.

Therefore, the Australian achieves his second victory of the season at Mugello and breaks Rossi’s streak, who had to settle for third place, while Lorenzo was left wanting to attack Stoner and finished a good second, considering how the race started.

The bad news comes from Dani Pedrosa, since the Spaniard Honda could not finish the race after going down with 10 laps to go. All we hope is that he has not hurt himself and that he can recover from his pain to arrive at the Catalan Grand Prix in full fitness.

We will keep an eye on the MotoGP 2009 season.

Photo | MotoGP Official website