News & Media

A field of waving yellow flags and hats welcomed Valentino Rossi’s triumph at the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Thanks to his 6th race won in the season, Rossi extended his championship lead to 30 points with 4 rounds to go.

Rossi sporting his "donkey" helmet after his crash at Indy, took the lead from Pedrosa on lap seven after getting past Lorenzo and Gresini Honda's Toni Elias, then controlled the pace from the front, eventually finishing 2.4 seconds ahead.

All of the action happened in turn two on the first lap when Elias' team-mate Alex De Angelis outbraked himself and ran into Monster Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who then clipped Nicky Hayden with all three of them going down.

Lorenzo also took a knock but managed to keep his bike stable and carry on. In a TV interview during the race, a furious Edwards described De Angelis as a 'dumbass' while Hayden said he thought the Italian rider 'would cause a drama'. Hayden pushed the San Marinese rider while all three were standing in the gravel trap.

Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso was passed by the Rizla Suzuki of Loris Capirossi for fourth with only four laps to go but re-passed him on the last lap. Toni Elias, who was second in the early stages, slipped to sixth ahead of Mika Kallio.

Britain's James Toseland ended the race in tenth place after a scrap with Chris Vermeulen and the Pramac Ducati of Aleix Espargaro, who is only on his second outing in MotoGP.