Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi returned to the top rostrum after a brilliant performance at the Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain the last weekend, celebrating his second victory of the season. Team-mate Jorge Lorenzo suffered from a premature ending to the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya after a race incident caused by Ducati’s Andrea Iannone.
Lorenzo also set a strong pace over the first stages of the race, but was unable to hold his lead because of front tire grip issues. Riding in fifth place, he was looking to take home vital points for the championship, until Andrea Iannone clipped him and caused a DNF (did not finish) result for both of them.