Mugello MotoGP: Lorenzo beats Marquez in wild fight as Rossi retires

Lorenzo beat Marquez in a drag race to the finish line by a scant 0.019s, getting the perfect drive out of the final corner after the pair swapped places four times on the final lap.

It was the 43rd win of Lorenzo's MotoGP career, his third of the season and his fifth at Mugello in the premier class.

The race had looked like shaping up between a straight fight between Yamaha teammates Lorenzo and Rossi in the early stages, the former launching from fifth on the grid into the lead at Turn 1.

Rossi briefly got back into the lead at the start of the second lap, but Lorenzo soon found a way back past, and held a small advantage for the first part of the race.

But Lorenzo was left with a cushion of eight tenths over Marquez when Rossi suffered a dramatic engine failure on the ninth lap of 23.

A puff of smoke appeared from the back of Rossi's slowing bike, before the works M1 let go completely in a huge cloud later on the lap.

Lorenzo had suffered a similar failure during morning warm-up, but had a new engine fitted for the race.

Epic duel ensues

By the halfway stage, Marquez had reduced Lorenzo's advantage to just a couple of tenths, although it wasn't until the very closing stages that the Honda rider was able to launch an attack for the lead.

The two-time champion ran wide at Turn 1 twice in the final four laps while trying to take the advantage, and when Lorenzo held the line through San Donato at the start of the final tour, it seemed he had done enough.

But Marquez caught his rival off guard going into the next turn, diving up the inside to grab the lead and holding it for nearly the whole lap - barring a brief retaliation at the Biondetti chicane, where Lorenzo dived to the inside into the first part only for Marquez to snap back ahead.

Marquez held the advantage through the final corner, but his Honda's acceleration problems cost him dear in the run to the flag, as Lorenzo edged it by the smallest of margins.

It gives Lorenzo a 10-point cushion in the riders' standings from Marquez, with Rossi now 37 behind his teammate in third after his second non-score of the season.

Iannone salvages third

Behind, Andrea Iannone took the final step on the podium for Ducati, recovering from a terrible start from the front row that saw him end the first lap outside the top 10 to shade the second Honda of Dani Pedrosa for third by two tenths.

The Italian showed his potential by setting the fastest lap of the race at the very end, but ended up 4.7s down on the leaders.

Iannone's teammate Andrea Dovizioso went the opposite direction from 13th on the grid to sit fourth after the opening laps, which became third after Rossi's demise, but dropped behind Iannone and Pedrosa late on to finish fifth.

Maverick Vinales had to be content with sixth after a dreadful start to the race on his Suzuki, ahead of Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) on the top privateer entry in seventh.

Aleix Espargaro faded from an early third place to finish up ninth aboard the second Suzuki, sandwiched by the Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci and wildcard Michele Pirro.

Scott Redding was a non-finisher on the remaining Pramac bike with a mechanical failure, while Loris Baz, Jack Miller and Alvaro Bautista all got caught up in a crash at the very start of the race.

Race results:

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha YZR-M1	41:36.535
2	Marc Marquez	Honda RC213V	+0.019
3	Andrea Iannone	Ducati GP16	+4.742
4	Dani Pedrosa	Honda RC213V	+4.910
5	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati GP16	+6.256
6	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki GSX-RR	+8.670
7	Bradley Smith	Yamaha YZR-M1	+13.340
8	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati GP15	+14.598
9	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki GSX-RR	+18.643
10	Michele Pirro	Ducati GP16	+22.298
11	Cal Crutchlow	Honda RC213V	+27.936
12	Hector Barbera	Ducati GP14	+35.712
13	Eugene Laverty	Ducati GP14	+38.032
14	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia RS-GP	+40.094
15	Pol Espargaro	Yamaha YZR-M1	+59.811
16	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati GP14	+1:04.397
R	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha YZR-M1
R	Scott Redding	Ducati GP15
R	Jack Miller	Honda RC213V
R	Loris Baz	Ducati GP14
R	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia RS-GP