The Fiat Yamaha team of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were once again at the front in the battle for the win, with the race once again being decided on the final few laps. Still recovering from his injuries suffered in a nasty highside at the Red Bull USGP two weeks ago, Lorenzo made his way up from a somewhat poor start after qualifying second on the grid, having to work his way past several riders including Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovisioso and Dani Pedrosa (Pedrosa finished third), as well as Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner, to challenge Rossi. Lorenzo managed to surprise Rossi with a bold outbraking move into the first turn with two laps remaining. Rossi managed to counter in the same spot on the final lap and hold off his teammate to the finish by the margin of 0.099 seconds, almost the same margin as the pair's thrilling finish at the Catalunya MotoGP.
"I think this was a great race for everyone because there were all four leading riders of the championship, fighting very closely and all in strong form," said Rossi. "We knew that they would all be tough to beat today so I am very pleased about this win, I rode very well and my team worked brilliantly all weekend to find the right setting. I had a very good start today, a great battle with Stoner early on and then after half race distance I was a little faster and really able to push at the maximum, which was great fun. At the end it came down to another incredible battle with Lorenzo and I really had to be on top form, especially because he passed me when I wasn't expecting it. Luckily I was able to take him back and then I rode a perfect final lap with no mistakes. Everything worked well today, my M1 and my Bridgestone tires, so thanks and well done to everyone. This is my fourth win of the year and I really think that our Yamaha is a fantastic bike this season. I think races like this are great for the sport. Now we have a small advantage in the championship and we're going straight to Donington, one of my favorite tracks where I really hope I can win after a few bad years without a victory!"
Despite once again being beaten by Rossi after a close battle, Lorenzo was satisfied with his race. "Today was a very hard race because this track is slow and twisty and you have to use all the strength in your body to ride at the maximum. Keeping pace with Valentino today was a big challenge for me, especially since I'm not at full fitness after Laguna, so I am happy that I was able to push him until the end," related the Majorca native. "Passing him was very difficult because he braked hard and late every time, and in fact I made a bit of a mistake because I thought there were a few more laps left when I passed him! I hoped to overtake him and then try to pull away but it didn't work out today. Of course I'm disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with him and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of. Second is important today and we still have a long way to go in this championship."
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa was hanging tough with the leaders for the majority of the race and looked to be in with a possible stab at the win, but he was just short at the finish. "I'm pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn't by chance," said Pedrosa. "I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth. With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind. Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we're making progress all the time, so I'm confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I'm looking forward to it. Let's hope we can have an even better race there."
Ducati's Stoner held the lead for quite a few laps after passing Rossi for the lead, but he wasn't quite able to hang on at the finish. "I wasn't too confident at the start of the race because we were losing ground and my feeling with the bike wasn't great but it quickly improved so we decided to hit the front as soon as possible – if nothing else just to hold everybody up and stay in there with a shout," confessed the Australian. "I started to lose the front end a few times so I decided to back off a bit. That allowed Valentino and Jorge to come past but then, as the fuel load lightened, the front fell more secure and I was able to pick up the pace again. Dani came up with an unbelievable lap that was about half a second quicker than any of his others. After he passed me I tried to push and stay with him but I actually lost the rear at the bottom of the hill and had to let off the brakes, which almost forced me to run into the gravel. All in all with the way things have been going lately I'm happy with today's race because it's the first time in a while I feel I've been really involved and I think if it wasn't for that problem with the rear I may have been able to dig deep and given Valentino and Jorge something to think about at the end. I'm excited about going to Donington now and I want to thank the team for sticking by me over the last few weeks because it hasn't been fun for any of them."
Meanwhile, Stoner's teammate Nicky Hayden was looking good after his best qualifying performance of the year in fourth spot, but a mistake in the first corner shuffled him nearly to the back of the pack, and it was an uphill battle from then on, especially after two crashes on the weekend. "I knew I needed to get a good start if I was going to do anything special today but I got into turn one hot and everybody came underneath me," said Hayden. "To be honest after my crash in warm-up I started the race a little uptight because I didn't want to wreck another bike or throw away everything we have gained and learned this weekend. It wasn't the race we were looking for so I'm sorry to the team because the bike was capable of more here, I've just made a couple of mistakes this weekend. I don't want to apologize for trying too hard though because I knew I could do good here. It is hard to be patient when you have a sniff of the front and instead of taking things step by step like we have up to now I pushed my luck and we've paid the price. So I'm disappointed with the race but not with the weekend on the whole because we're up and running now and moving forward."
Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Colin Edwards struggled with chassis balance issues that caused his M1 to understeer off the corners under power. "It was a weird race and I had a similar problem to the last few races," said the exasperated Texan. "It feels like I've got a load of weight on the rear pushing me into the corners. I can't get the bike to turn and today was pretty much the same. The first few laps were a bit of nightmare because I was losing the front a lot. I was going backwards and at one point dropped out of the top ten, but when I thought it was going to be a long afternoon, a strange thing happened. As the rear grip started to drop, I actually got faster and the bike starting turning. With less grip on the rear I could turn the bike and it would help keep the front from just running straight on. So I just got my head down and recovered some positions but I ran out of laps when I getting closer to Nicky (Hayden) and Marco (Melandri). Now we go to Donington, which is a place that I love. I've had some success there in MotoGP and I'll be looking to get closer to the front for all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who have worked hard again all weekend."