Pole man Pedrosa led into Turn 1 from his team-mate Marquez and then Rossi. Lorenzo, who was starting from 4th, dropped back to sixth in the first corner, but recovered to put a double pass on the Ducati Team GP15’s of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone before setting his sights on Rossi whom he caught on the second lap.

On lap three Marquez ran wide at Turn 15 allowing Lorenzo into second. Marquez found himself in a daunting position, against the man who claimed he’s helping Lorenzo win the title and that man is Rossi.

While Pedrosa and Lorenzo focused on opening up a gap on their teammates at the front, Rossi and Marquez started one of the battles of the season – a battle which will go down in history as one of the most controversial.

The two riders overtook each other allowing the two men at the front to disappear off into the distance. While Pedrosa was managing the gap at the front beautifully, Lorenzo had opened up a lead of 2.7s over Marquez in third by lap seven.

Rossi once again passed Marquez for third at Turn 10 on lap seven. Marquez immediately fought back through Turns 11 and 12 with Rossi then responding through Turn 13 before appearing to run Marquez wide on the exit of Turn 14 and making contact with the Spaniard after a couple of looks.

Marquez crashed out and was forced to retire from an incident that left the reigning MotoGP champion furious. This incident and subsequent penalties have now had a huge implication on deciding where the 2015 title ends up with.

Oblivious to the drama, Lorenzo had managed to open up a 5.6s gap to Rossi. At the front Pedrosa had managed his tyres and pace perfectly, extending his advantage on almost every lap. He went on to take his second win of the season by over three and half seconds from Lorenzo, who made it four podiums in a row and 11 for the season by finishing in second.

Rossi crossed the line in third a further tend seconds behind Lorenzo, but will have an incredible fight on his hands to lift his tenth title at Valencia after the penalty.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith crossed the line in fourth after he started from 9th on the grid. A great battle was had with his compatriot Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda for the honours of leading Satellite rider. Smith eventually got the better of the Honda when Cal ran wide at Turn 15 with 9 laps to go. Smith crossed the line almost five seconds ahead of Crutchlow in fourth.

Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci pulled off his best MotoGP result in the dry as he finished in sixth whilst Aleix Espargaro won the battle of the Suzuki’s as he beat his rookie team-mate Maverick Viñales to seventh by just over a tenth of a second.

Pol Espargaro crossed the line in ninth after racing through the severe pain in his neck which was caused by a crash in Warm Up and by Hector Barbera.

Stefan Bradl completed the top ten, his best result since he made his debut for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini at Indianapolis.

Race results:

1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 40:37.691
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 40:41.303 (+3.612)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 40:51.415  (+13.724)
4. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41:1.686 (+23.995)
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda 41:6.412  (+28.721)
6. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing 41:14.063 (+36.372)
7. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:16.981 (+39.290)
8. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:17.127 (+39.436)
9. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41:20.153 (+42.462)
10. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini 41:22.292 (+44.601)
11. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 41:25.381 (+47.690)
12. Yonny Hernandez COL Octo Pramac Racing 41:29.803 (+52.112)
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 41:30.051 (+52.360)
14. Toni Elias SPA Forward Racing 41:31.310 (+53.619)
15. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini 41:31.322 (+53.631)
16. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team 41:39.122 (+1:01.431)
17. Jack Miller AUS LCR Honda 41:40.519 (+1:02.828)
18. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing 41:42.766 (+1:05.075)
19. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 41:47.568 (+1:09.877)
20. Anthony West AUS AB Motoracing 42:02.440 (+1:24.749)