"The Doctor" Finds Cure for Ducati Dominance, Cruises to Mugello Win

Valentino Rossi got Yamaha back in the winning streak with a powerful performance on Sunday. The Italian produced a stunning victory on Ducati's home circuit Mugello and is now breathing on Casey Stoner's neck in overall standings. But it's not like things went down as planned for the 5-time world champion. As the qualifying session on Saturday showed, Ducati were clearly the favourites in clinching their 4th win of the season, as Stoner put more than a second between him and title rival Rossi.

The Doctor went from 3rd on the grid to 7th in the race after the first couple of corners. Only one lap more into the race, Rossi lost another position to Suzuki's John Hopkins and it seemed that the Turkey disaster would happen all over again. Not only the Italian was trailing the pack in 8th place, but Stoner was leading it and was starting to build a comfortable margin up front.

But Rossi remembered that he was undefeated in Mugello for the past 6 years and produced a stunning comeback in the following laps. As Stoner had to fight Loris Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa for the lead, Rossi started to get closer and closer. By Lap 5, the Yamaha rider was trailing Hopkins for 4th. After only 2 laps, the Doctor was in the frame for a place on the podium, as Melandri was to become his next target.

The inevitable happened in the same lap and Stoner was now feeling the heat from his Yamaha rival. Pedrosa was leading from Stoner, Rossi and Hopkins. The crowd's favourite wasted little time to get into second place, but the most interesting part was the overtaking. Rossi cruised past Stoner at the end of the main straight, where Ducati was supposed to dominate its rivals by a long shot. Once into 2nd place, the fans at Mugello already started celebrating Rossi's 7th straight win.

As the leading duo were both on Michelin, all was equal for the final battle. All but the riders, as Rossi was clearly on top of the situation. Despite Honda's greater power on the long straight, the Doctor managed to overtake Pedrosa on the Scarperaia corner (Lap 9) and never let go of the lead. Pedrosa didn't lose faith and tried to give Rossi a few scares in the laps to come, but that didn't break Rossi's hunger for victory.

In the back, Stoner's 3rd place was no certainty, as both John Hopkins and veteran Alex Barros were getting closer and closer to the Ducati rider. The American soon lost contact with the D'Antin rider and it was now Barros or Stoner for 3rd. Both riders on Ducati motorcycles, both on Bridgestone tires. Experience was all that separated them, and that proved to be crucial in the end. The Brazilian overtook Stoner on the long straight 3 laps from the finish line and never let go, clinching his first MotoGP comeback podium.

Hopkins secured his 5th place with a 6-second advantage over Spaniard Toni Elias and Italian Loris Capirossi. Chris Vermeulen failed to continue his good run in France and crossed the finish line in 8th place, as he was closely followed by Marco Melandri and reigning champion Nicky Hayden. Yamaha's Colin Edwards ended the race on a disappointing 12th place.

"To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation. My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin. I didn't get a very good start but once my tyres had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front. Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races. I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha. This is a great, great moment for me", said Rossi after the race.

Pedrosa managed his first 2nd place of the season and seemed pretty happy with it, as he admitted Rossi was clearly the better competitor on Sunday: "My performance was really strong from the beginning of the race until the middle and I was able to recover and take the lead. Then I started to have the same issues as in some of the other races this year. I could see that Valentino was getting away slowly but as I tried to speed up I was getting slides from both wheels, so I couldn’t push the tires any harder and I had to close the throttle a little bit and settle for second".

Veteran Alex Barros gave Pramac D'Antin their first podium feeling in the MotoGP and was thrilled to score a good result on his favorite circuit: “I am of course really happy to have achieved my first podium of this season and it has come at the perfect time. Mugello is the home race for Ducati and Pramac, so I am pleased to be able to give them a fitting result. After the fourth place we got in Turkey, I have had my share of bad luck in recent races, so it is good to get such a competitive result, also at a circuit I like very much”.

As Casey Stoner only had to settle for 4th place, Valentino Rossi is now only 9 points behind the Ducati rider in the overall standings. Dani Pedrosa also secured his 3rd place overall with his 3rd podium of the season. Ducati still holds the lead in Constructors' Standings, as the Italians are 9 points ahead of Honda and 12 clear from Yamaha. The next race will be held on the Circuit de Catalunya on June 10th.