Rossi pips Lorenzo in Catalunya thriller

Eurosport - Mon, 15 Jun 07:14:00 2009

Italian Valentino Rossi won a monumental battle with Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to triumph in the Catalan's home MotoGP race.

MOTORCYCLING 2009 Catalan GP Cataluña Valentino Rossi Jorge Lorenzo - 0

The riders are now tied on 106 points at the summit of the World Championship standings alongside Ducati's Casey Stoner, who finished third in Sunday's race.

Lorenzo, who had snatched a last-gasp pole from six-times champion Rossi, led for long stretches before the lead swapped several times on the final three laps.

There were several occasions where the two Yamahas almost touched as the fans - who were supporting FC Barcelona fan Lorenzo, but had a huge soft spot for Rossi - blared airhorns and bellowed them on.

It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, but Lorenzo left himself slightly open as they came around the final corner and Rossi tore up the inside for a memorable victory.

"It was a fantastic battle," Rossi said.

"The Yamahas were flying, we got away from the field and I quickly saw that it would be between Jorge and I," he added.

"The final lap was incredible, with two or three incredible braking manoeuvres, and I didn't know whether I could overtake on the last corner but I went for it."

Lorenzo was amazed at his arch-rival's audacity.

"I wasn't expecting him to take me at that point but he was more courageous than me and deserved the win," he said after the race.

"He's an old dog and I wasn't intelligent enough to anticipate his move but it's fine.

"The important thing is that the spectators were able to enjoy a race that went to the very last corner."

Behind the leaders Stoner eventually managed to open up a gap on the excellent Andrea Dovizioso, who matched his fourth-placed grid spot in the race, while Loris Capirossi took an impressive fifth after starting from 11th.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who suffered injury in qualifying and started from eighth, was rampant in the early stages as he went past Repsol Honda team-mate Dovizioso, but was unable to make it stick and trailed Rizla Suzuki's Capirossi by the finish.

In seventh was Yamaha Tech 3's Colin Edwards - his British team-mate James Toseland came in 13th - with Honda's Randy De Puniet leading home Ducati Pramac's Mika Kallio and factory Ducati man Nicky Hayden for eighth.

Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (Honda Gresini) finished ahead of Toseland, with Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati Onde 2000) behind the Sheffield rider.

Hungarian 250cc star Gabor Talmacsi trailed in last on his MotoGP debut behind Niccolo Canepa, while Yuki Takahashi and Antonio Elias retired.

MotoGP Catalunya: Watch highlights of the MotoGP, 125cc and 250cc races on British Eurosport or the Eurosport Player at 19:30 on Sunday; Also available on your PC via the Player are the complete races, without commentary - click on the link under the photo to subscribe

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 67 - 86 of 106

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. am speechless when he made the pass wat a race lorenzo­ knows the doctor still the best rider in the world he­ need 2 show respect

    From abimbola, on Mon 15 Jun 9:48AM

  2. I keep reading about the rubbish commentary on­ Eurosport, I have to say the BBC guys 'specially­ Parrish are superb, brilliant insight plus humour -­ tops. Great work guys!

    From Give up on the God thing - its a fairystory folks, on Mon 15 Jun 9:44AM

  3. And the F1 fans whine about scrapping the Barcelona­ circuit from their calendar because racing there is­ "boring". Barcelona always gives awesome­ MotoGP action. Anyone remember the three-way fight­ between Stoner, Rossi and Pedrosa in 2007? However this­ has to be the most exciting race in recent times, right­ up there with Laguna '08, Estoril '06, Jerez­ '05 and Mugello '05, '06

    From arshad_iceman2, on Mon 15 Jun 8:10AM

  4. this article's a bit sxxx - Rossis an 8 time world­ champ

    Lorenzo was amazed at his arch-rival's­ audacity.

    "I wasn't expecting him to take me­ at that point but he was more courageous than me and­ deserved the win," he said after the race.

    shows­ a lot of class from Lorenzo

    From littlee.69123, on Mon 15 Jun 7:16AM

  5. kwakman - not sure we are goin to get to see that­ pleasure unfortunately. Unlucky for Mcguiness but I was­ sooo happy for Plater - a true journeyman racer gets­ the top TT prize - well deserved and JM has plenty in­ his cupboard. the average speeds are getting very crazy­ at the TT. The fact that Fogarty's outright lap­ record survived for 6-7 years just shows carl's­ class.

    From littlee.69123, on Mon 15 Jun 7:10AM

  6. 4 overtakes just between the 2 leaders on the last lap.­ you dont get 4 overtakes for the whole race in F1.­ Interesting how much faster the M1's were in a str8­ line compared to the duke. soon as he hasn't got­ the str8 line speed advantage stoner looks, not­ ordinary but nothing special

    From littlee.69123, on Mon 15 Jun 7:06AM

  7. what a fckn race - Valentino.........bldy hell

    From littlee.69123, on Mon 15 Jun 7:04AM

  8. Kwakmann - he will win it The TT, but it clashes with­ his duties now and he cant compete, but be sure, he­ will want that feather as well.

    From Rob, on Mon 15 Jun 6:27AM

  9. Oh Doctor I/m in trouble -
    well goodness gracious­ me!!!
    PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREFT ROSSI AT HIS­ PEEEEEEEEEERFECT BEST, poor Casey cant cope with that­ mode!

    From Rob, on Mon 15 Jun 6:26AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    when vale wins the isle of man tt then he will be the­ best ever

    From Douglas, on Mon 15 Jun 5:40AM

  11. when vale wins the isle of man tt then he will be the­ best ever

    From Douglas, on Mon 15 Jun 5:31AM

  12. when vale wins the isle of man tt then he will be the­ best ever

    From Douglas, on Mon 15 Jun 5:29AM

  13. If we see a better race all season, I'll be amazed!­ Outstanding performances by Rossi and Lorenzo. Much­ respect to both. I'm a hard-core Vale fan but had­ Lorenzo won, I would have still bben happy to see such­ courageous racing. Could it have been better? Yes, a­ fit Stoner on the pace to make up a three bike fight­ would have been even better. Can't wait for Lagua­ Seca!! C'mon Vale!!!

    From Chris R, on Mon 15 Jun 4:56AM

  14. Valentino the greatest of all time.... come on vale­ show these young whipper snappers how we roll old skool­ baby.
    i watched on BBC i liked that thing steve parrish­ said he saw someone riding around at the TT with­ identical leathers as rossi but instead of them saying­ "the doctor" on the back they said "the­ patient" made me chukkle.
    good to see some battles­ like with gibernau .. can`t wait till next race.
    go­ valentino!!!!!!!!!

    From geoffrey, on Mon 15 Jun 12:25AM

  15. Roooooooosssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­ ii !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From C, on Mon 15 Jun 12:12AM

  16. OMG that was one of the best races i had ever seen

    From invader_kim, on Sun 14 Jun 11:40PM

  17. Rossi is not a mere mortal like the rest of us!­ Unbelievable race. P.S. Eurosport, sort out the­ commentators please!!

    From danbudden, on Sun 14 Jun 11:38PM

  18. DAi VALEEEEEEEE SPINGIIIIIIIII
    Numero 46 per sempre­
    rossi is the master 46 today and everyday xxx

    From vale46, on Sun 14 Jun 11:36PM

  19. To all you who talk s hit about Valentino, you can now­ eat s hit!!!

    From sputnik_nyc, on Sun 14 Jun 11:34PM

  20. Moto GP makes F1 look terrible at the moment.­ VAAAAIIIII VAAAALLEEEEEEEEE

    From Marco, on Sun 14 Jun 11:06PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account