Valentino Rossi was like a man reborn after ending his longest victory drought since the 2000 season in style at Estoril on Sunday.
The Italian, pushed out of the limelight this year by
Casey Stoner, secured his fourth victory of 2007 with a masterful ride that kept the hampered Aussie off the top step. Stoner eventually finished in third place, behind Honda's
Dani Pedrosa, while Rossi collected his eighth consecutive podium finish at the Portuguese circuit. The result was, however, his first top three in six races, dating back to his victory at Assen in June.
Rossi made a poor start from the outside of the front row and had slipped to fifth by the first corner, but quickly began to regain ground, crossing the line first time around behind
Nicky Hayden in fourth. The American was dispatched on lap three before Rossi really showed the improved performance of his new Yamaha engine by catching and passing Stoner on the straight going into lap nine.
From then on, the race turned into a nail-biting head-to-head between Rossi and Pedrosa, the pair evenly matched on pace but faster in different areas of the track. With four laps to go, Pedrosa appeared to have made a crucial mistake, running wide and allowing Rossi through - only for the Italian to make a similar mistake moments later.
However, with Pedrosa beginning to slide and Stoner looking menacing in third, Rossi made his move with an inch-perfect pass on the penultimate lap, although the Spaniard refused to let him rest in front, crossing the line just 0.175secs behind the Yamaha.
"This is a very important victory for us in every way," Rossi said later, "It's the fourth one of the year, so the numbers are starting to look a little bit better, and it's a great, great emotion to win again after so long without even a podium.
