Dani Pedrosa appears to have escaped further injury during his race day accident at Mugello, which came just one day after suffering hip damage in a near highside from his Repsol Honda.

On that occasion Pedrosa miraculously managed to keep control and return to the pits for treatment, but his race day exit was more dramatic - the Spaniard, who had snatched the lead into turn one of the wet start, being thrown from his dry-spec RCV while holding eleventh place on lap 13 of 23.

Pedrosa was slow to move after the fall and had to be carried from the gravel trap on a stretcher, but is expected to be fit for his home Catalan Grand Prix on June 14 - pending further checks.

“What can I say? It's obviously been a pretty bad weekend for us and the crash in the race just about summed it all up,” said a dejected Dani. “After the problem with my right leg yesterday I had a pain-killing injection this morning for the warm-up and it allowed me to ride the bike, but to be honest there was still a lot of pain and I couldn't ride at full speed. The rain didn't help either because all the practice sessions were dry so the wet settings were a bit of a gamble.

“Anyway, I want to thank Doctor Costa and his assistants for all their help that allowed me to be on the grid today. I had another injection before the race but the conditions were very hard to read and it was difficult for me to gain confidence or find a rhythm - also the bike change wasn't easy for me because of my leg.

“On the dry bike I didn't really have time to get used to the settings and track conditions because I lost the rear on my third lap out and crashed. It's quite hard to find anything very positive to say right now, but I'm glad that I didn't do any more damage when I crashed - that's something.

“I want to check again with my doctors when I get home and then have a bit of rest - I feel really tired now. Despite this setback we'll keep working. It's my home grand prix next and I just hope I can go there and be in contention,” he added.

Pedrosa's first DNF of the season means he is now 33 points behind Mugello winner and world championship leader Casey Stoner. Pedrosa began the weekend just nine points from the top.