Mugello was another challenging GP for the riders, but exciting for the fans, as they yet again had to cope with wet race tyres on a drying track and calculate when was the best time to come in and change to slicks.

Although Casey Stoner got away to a good start, together with Chris Vermeulan, Randy de Puniet, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi all in the mix, it was clear from the beginning that tyres were an issue in the tricky conditions and Stoner and Pedrosa soon dropped back but remained in touch with the leaders, whereas Chris Vermeulan led the race for a while once again showing his impressive wet racing abilities and Jorge Lorenzo, who strangely crashed on the sighting lap, seemed to have put that behind him to also battle at the front.

There were plenty of surprises elsewhere as at different points in the race both Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi were in the lead. James Toseland took an early gamble to change to slicks and although when the front runners eventually followed suit he could not match their pace it still enabled him to finish much better than of late only pushed back to 7th by teammate Colin Edwards in the final stages of the race.

Pedrosa sustained an injury to his right hip in practice which caused a muscle tear and fracture in his right femur. He crashed out of the race, having changed to slicks, and it was thought that he had sustained further injury after he was stretchered away, but it was later confirmed that he had no further injuries. He is now concentrating on getting fit for his home GP in Catalunya in two weeks time. Any further DNFs are likely to put an end to his title hopes.

The eventual winner was an extremely pleased Casey Stoner who admitted it was a tough race for him having also to contend with clutch problems which he thought at one point might mean he had to retire from the race. The win means that world champion Valentino Rossi was unable to continue his record of unbeaten wins (8 to 2008) at Mugello.

Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive second and is certainly showing his teammate a thing or two of late.

Valentino Rossi managed to hold onto third place on the podium after never really looking as though he could challenge for the win and on the last lap he had to fight for the third place as a resurgent Andrea Dovizisio started to challenge. In the end there was only just a fraction more than half a second between them.

The title challenge is still as close with Stoner now leading the pack only four points ahead of Lorenzo and nine points ahead of Rossi.

Final results courtesy of motogp.com:
Pos. Rider Nation Team Total time
1 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 45’41.894
2 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 1.001
3 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 2.076
4 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team + 2.129
5 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 3.274
6 C. EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 24.451
7 J. TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 25.621
8 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 26.046
9 N. CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing + 31.815
10 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 34.814
11 M. MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team + 35.090
12 N. HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team + 39.122
13 M. KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing + 52.462
14 T. ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini + 52.478
15 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 1 Lap

Championship Standings:
Pos. Rider Nation Team Points
1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 90
2 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 86
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 81
4 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 57
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 56
6 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team 48
7 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 45
8 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 38
9 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 37
10 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 34
11 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 26
12 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 23
13 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 21
14 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing 19
15 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team 13
16 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing 10
17 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando 8
18 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 8