MotoGP 2016: Jorge Lorenzo wins at Mugello
The last lap of the MotoGP round at Mugello was a nail-biter. Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez really fought hard, nay tooth and nail and other such cliches, for the win. But it was Lorenzo who ultimately triumphed, taking home Yamaha's 100th MotoGP victory.
It wasn't all smiles in the Yamaha camp though, with home hero and pole man Valentino Rossi's race ending in a cloud of smoke as the engine on his M1 gave up on Lap 9 of the race. This, when Rossi had been chasing after his team-mate, hoping to close in on him and take the race lead. But in front of a crowd of fans at Mugello, The Doctor had to abandon his motorcycle, blown engine and all, and hitch a ride back to the pits.
Further reason for worried looks within the Yamaha camp came because Rossi's wasn't the only engine to blow at Mugello. Lorenzo had also lost an engine on race day, fortunately for him during the morning warm up.
With Rossi no longer in the hunt, it was Marc Marquez's turn to start attacking Jorge, the Repsol Honda inching its way closer to the race leader. Behind them, Andrea Iannone, who had had a terrible start to the race, dropping down the order on the first lap, had worked his way back to the front. Iannone would overtake his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and clinch third.
But the battle for first was, as previously mentioned, nail-biting. Marquez came through to take the lead on the very last corner of the last lap, and it really did look as though he was going to cross the chequered flag first. But Lorenzo blazed past at the very end, winning.
Behind the top three, Dani Pedrosa finished fourth for Repsol Honda, Dovizioso fifth on the second Ducati, with Suzuki's Maverick Vinales sixth after starting from the front row.
Top satellite rider was Bradley Smith, finishing seventh on the Monster Yamaha Tech3 M1.