Following the same day he confirmed his renewing contract with HRC to stay with the factory Honda squad next season, Dani Pedrosa attempted his best shot at the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, however could only come up with a third placing at Misano.

The prior 250cc and 125cc World Champion gave a signature start and headed the event early, but eventually was chased down by Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, who seemed to gain an advantage in lap times on their Yamaha M1 engines.

Commenting on the situation Pedrosa explains, “I gave it my maximum in the race. I tried to do everything I could and I wanted to stay with them (Rossi and Lorenzo) at the beginning, but in the middle of the race I started to go slower and they were just faster. They were braking better and cornering better, so I couldn’t keep up with them.”

At the conclusion of the event, the Barcelona racer had to be taken back to the pits by colleague Catalan Toni Elías after his engine cut out on the warm down lap. Pedrosa says, “From the beginning I had some misfiring on a couple of corners and in the end I was very lucky because my bike stopped on the ‘in-lap’ and it was very strange. I don’t know if it was lack of fuel or something else, but I think I was lucky to finish the race and get third! Anyway, thanks to my team and the people around me.”