“One lap too late” – but Pedrosa takes his 150th podium

150 not out for the Spaniard, who takes an impressive second in a race that proved tough to call

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) took second at Brno, but it was more than simply the third podium in four races for the three-time World Champion: it was his 150th visit to the rostrum.

It was far from easy, with wet conditions on the grid drying much faster than anticipated and everything coming down to the tyre gamble. Coming in what he says was “one lap too late”, the number 26 wasn’t able to fight teammate Marquez for the win – but did cut into his 20 second lead by a good margin.

Comfortably clear of Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in third, Pedrosa crossed the line to cut the gap in the title fight to Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), with only Marquez pulling away slightly after taking the win - now 31 points ahead of his teammate.

Dani Pedrosa, P2: “Afterwards it’s always easier to see things! I was expecting this kind of race, wet to dry, then it was raining all day, then stopping…so I thought it would be like this for the race, even when I was on the grid. It was a bit clearer but I thought it would rain again. Then on the Warm Up lap I could see it was going to be clear. I was trying to keep in touch in the first laps but I was surprised how quickly it dried – I was thinking about coming in but I decided to do one more lap, and unfortunately one lap too late to make the second half of the race easier! But I normally struggle in this kind of race and I was quite fast out the box with slicks and competitive all weekend, which is positive for me and my team. I’m positive about the result, and the bike was working well. I’m quite happy with the weekend.”