Pedrosa wins duel of Estoril

A race-long duel between Spanish riders Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo at the Portuguese MotoGP in Estoril resulted in a cleverly claimed victory for the former on Sunday.

The Repsol Honda rider, visibly still in pain from surgery on an injured shoulder just a month ago, carefully kept pace with pole position holder Lorenzo from the start, saving his tires, his energy and his patience before breaking past three laps from the end. Delivering a series of fastest laps, the Catalan surged into a commanding lead, crossing the finish line three seconds ahead of the reigning world champion to earn his first victory in any category at Estoril.

Pedrosa's Australian teammate Casey Stoner was third, while behind him Italy's Andrea Dovizioso snatched fourth from compatriot Valentino Rossi at the checkered flag, finishing just 0.025 seconds ahead of the nine-time world champion.

"It's been very difficult for me lately and to be here after surgery is something incredible," Pedrosa told the BBC.

"The race was very tough and Jorge was at an amazing pace all the time, but at the end I was there with him and I did not want to be second again."

Lorenzo, who had been looking to claim his fourth win in a row at Estoril, admitted he couldn't match Pedrosa after he rode past. "He stayed behind me during all the race. Maybe I was more tired physically because I was pushing and pushing and he only had to follow me," said the Mallorcan Yamaha rider. "But he has done a better race so he deserved the win. The important thing is that we finished the race, didn't crash and we got some important points for the championship."

After starting from the first row of the grid, Italian Marco Simoncelli of the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team failed to complete a lap after crashing out in third place on turn four. The Italian, who had been involved in a public spat with Lorenzo over his aggressive style on Saturday, had also come off the track during qualifying.

Elsewhere Spain's Tony Elías finished 11th for LCR Honda and fellow countryman Álvaro Bautista was 13th for Rizla Suzuki. Pedrosa's win leaves him in second place on 61 points in the overall world standings, just four points behind leader Lorenzo. Stoner lies a further 20 points behind in third, with Rossi (Ducati) back in fourth on 31 points.

In the Moto2 category, Spain's Julián Simón finished second for Mapfre Aspar following a tense battle with race leader Stefan Brandl over the last few laps. The German ultimately crossed the finish line just 0.147 seconds ahead of Simón. Spaniard Pol Espargaró was sixth.

Meanwhile, Valencian rider Nicolás Terol made it an incredible three victories out of three this season in the 125cc category. After starting from pole, the Spanish Bankia Aspar rider dominated proceedings until the finish, crossing the line ahead of Sandro Cortese (Intact-Racing Team Germany) and Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo).