Lorenzo completes hat-trick of Mugello wins Jorge Lorenzo has won the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM On Saturday, Repsol Honda Team’s Pedrosa – winner of the last two Grands Prix in Spain and France – had claimed his first pole position of the campaign, heading up the front row from Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso. Sunday afternoon would prove to be completely dry as the race was held in bright conditions, marking the fifth round of 18 in 2013. A strong getaway for Pedrosa allowed the Honda man to retain his lead, but he immediately ran wide and was tagged by Lorenzo as the World Champion dived inside to take the lead on the exit of Turn 1. Pedrosa would remain with his compatriot until just past half distance, when small errors for two laps in a row allowed Marquez to attack his teammate while Lorenzo pulled out a healthy buffer. Pedrosa’s afternoon was a mixed one. He had lost the lead at the start and kept Marquez at bay until the 20-year-old pulled off a courageous move on the inside of Savelli curve on the 19th tour. Marquez’s hard work was quickly undone in exactly the same place just two laps later, as an unforced error resulted in a fourth crash in three days and the end of his bid to become the first rookie in MotoGP history to claim five rostrum finishes at the start of his premier class career. Marquez’s demise allowed Pedrosa to retake second place as Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Crutchlow made the podium for the second time in two weeks, becoming the first British rider since 1987 to take back-to-back podium finishes. Stefan Bradl delivered a mature ride to fourth place to equal his career-best result for LCR Honda MotoGP, which had coincidently been achieved at the same race last year. Ducati Team filled positions five to seven, with Dovizioso eventually winning a battle with teammate Nicky Hayden while Michele Pirro raced the GP13 Lap bike for a second time. Aleix Espargaro carried his Power Electronics Aspar CRT bike to its best result yet in eighth spot, with Tech 3’s Bradley Smith achieving ninth despite being in immense pain with an injured wrist and finger. Hector Barbera completed the top ten for Avintia Blusens, but the biggest drama of the day for the Italian crowd was Valentino Rossi’s retirement only three corners into the race; the seven-time Mugello winner was involved in a collision with GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, with both men heading into the barriers at Poggio Secco. After the event, Race Direction declared the coming together a ‘racing incident’. Lorenzo’s second victory of the year sees him jump up to second place in the Riders’ Championship, 12 points behind Pedrosa, as Marquez falls to third and 26 points behind the championship leader. The action continues with the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya from Barcelona in two weeks’ time. Jorge Lorenzo: "I knew it was going to be a really hard race because it got much hotter than it had been in the morning. In the morning we were quite fast; we were also fast in the afternoon, but not the same – three or four tenths slower. Dani was following me for about 13 laps, but on the 13th I pushed a little bit more – to be about three tenths faster - and it seems he gave up a little bit, so it was much easier from then.” Quote courtesy of Yamaha. Rossi’s home race ends in barriers 
Valentino Rossi was bitterly disappointed to have failed to finish his home Grand Prix, crashing with Alvaro Bautista on the opening lap at Mugello on Sunday. The nine-time world champion had started seventh on the grid, two positions in front of Bautista, but both riders found themselves in the protective barriers only three corners into the race. "Unfortunately, at the start I had a problem with the clutch spinning and I lost two or three positions,” Rossi recalls. "Then I was attacking because we had a good pace and I was fast. "On the second corner I was on the outside already in front of Bautista. For me, from the inside he opened the throttle to close the line so he didn’t lose another position, but I was already in front so he came to me and touched my boot. I was lucky because it was a bad crash and I hit the wall, but I’m okay. "We will try next time in Barcelona, but it is a pity because firstly it is Mugello and secondly I think we could have done a good race and maybe been on the podium.” Rossi won seven consecutive races at home in Italy between 2002 and 2008. After today’s non-finish, he finds himself sixth in the championship and 56 points off the lead whereas Bautista is now 8th overall and a further 9 points behind.
No further injuries for Marc Marquez 
It has been confirmed that Friday’s heavy crash for Marc Marquez resulted in no other injuries than those identified in the Medical Centre of the Mugello circuit. The Repsol Honda Team rider underwent a check-up in Barcelona on Monday. After flying from Bologna to Barcelona, Marquez headed directly to the city centre from the airport in order to be examined by Dr. Xavier Mir at the Hospital Universitario Quiron Dexeus. It was quickly confirmed that no further injuries had been sustained, with Marquez having lost control of his bike at 337.9km/h (209.9mph) and been exposed to at least 25G in impact force at the end of the Mugello start/finish straight. "Following the initial examination that we performed on Marc at Mugello, in which he underwent his first x-rays, we weren’t convinced about the condition of his right shoulder,” Dr. Mir explained. "Today we have performed some more detailed x-rays on him, which confirm that the injury at the upper point of his humerus is minimal – a small fissure. As such injuries can compromise the condition of tendons in the shoulder, we also gave him a Doppler ultrasound scan. This ruled out any broken tendons. What he does have is a small inflammation of the tendons, but this is something that can be treated in a matter of days with physiotherapy. "The progress in the 24 hours following the injury was very good. At first he had some difficulty lifting his arm, but this has improved now. He now only has some issues raising it sideways, which again is something that with physiotherapy he will completely recover from in time for the Catalan GP.” Marquez suffered four crashes across the Mugello weekend, including that which removed him from second place in the closing stages of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Crashes galore at Mugello: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIbdzpDmzJA Sorry, can't embed this - certainly worth a look !
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