Lorenzo out-muscles Marquez, Rossi DNF

Jorge Lorenzo won a ferocious last lap duel with Marc Marquez to clinch victory at Mugello, where Valentino Rossi's race ended in bitter disappointment with an engine failure.

Italian hero Rossi had been shadowing his Movistar Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo in second place when his race came to an unceremonious end on lap nine, when he was forced to park up his smoking factory M1 to the dismay of thousands of his passionate fans.

It was the second engine blow-up to hit Yamaha on Sunday after Lorenzo's bike suffered a similar fate during morning warm-up.

The Doctor's demise left Lorenzo clear out front, but Repsol Honda's Marquez began to eat into the world championship leader's slim advantage and was soon hounding the Yamaha rider.

As Lorenzo and Marquez engaged in a game of cat and mouse at the front, Andrea Iannone - who was down in 10th place following the opening lap after blowing his front row start - was on the move and came through to take third from his Ducati tea-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Dani Pedrosa also came on strong in the second part of the race and became embroiled in a battle with Iannone, although the Italian rider prevailed to seal the final place on the podium.

Lorenzo and Marquez traded passes on a nail-biting final lap and it looked as though the Honda rider had managed to make the decisive move to lead out of the final corner onto the main straight, but Lorenzo managed to draft past on the blast to the line to win in dramatic style.

Dovizioso finished fifth on the second of the factory Ducati GP16 machines, with Maverick Vinales sixth on the Ecstar Suzuki.

Spaniard Vinales also blew his start and had to fight his way through from 11th place on the GSX-RR.

British rider Bradley Smith finished a solid seventh on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 to have the honour of being the top satellite rider at Mugello.

Lorenzo made a brilliant start to take the lead into turn one from the second row and soon settled into his rhythm, although he was unable to shake off Rossi, who seemed comfortable in second place.

The 37-year-old attempted a pass on Lorenzo into turn 1 at the end of the first lap but ran wide, although he managed to recover to hold on to second place from Aleix Espargaro on the Suzuki, who had Marquez for company.

Like Iannone, Suzuki's Vinales fluffed his lines at the start and was down in 11th place after the first lap behind the Ducati rider.

Lorenzo and Rossi set a hot pace to open a slight cushion over Marquez, who made headway into third place as Dovizioso moved into fourth from Espargaro.

There was little change among the front three until Rossi's race came to an abrupt halt on the ninth lap, just as he appeared to be weighing up a move on Lorenzo.

It was Rossi's second DNF of the season after he crashed out in Texas and he is now 37 points behind Lorenzo after the first six rounds.

With Rossi out of the picture, it was Marquez who emerged to throw down the gauntlet to Lorenzo and he launched his first attack on lap 20, diving past on the brakes into turn 1, but running wide on the RC213V.

Marquez again went wide at the same part of the course two laps later as he tried unsuccessfully once more to snatch the lead to set up a blistering final lap.

Lorenzo covered his line into turn 1 but Marquez made a brilliant pass a few corners later and immediately opened a few tenths.

However, Lorenzo was far from done and the pair went bar-to-bar in their bid for glory, with Marquez leading into the final turn.

The 23-year-old seemed to have done enough, but Lorenzo gained terrific drive onto the main straight and drafted past the Honda to win by only 0.019s.

Iannone - who set a new top speed record of 220.5mph on the GP16 - fought back to take third from the late-charging Pedrosa as he finished 4.7 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Dovizioso and Vinales were safe in fifth and sixth respectively, while Smith had 1.2 seconds in hand over Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci as the Briton clinched seventh place.

The remainder of the field was strung out, with Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) and Ducati test rider Michele Pirro completing the top ten.

Cal Crutchlow was 11th on the LCR Honda followed by Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati) and Ireland's Eugene Laverty on the Aspar Ducati, who earned more points this season in 13th.

Aprilia's Stefan Bradl finished ahead of Pol Espargaro, with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider re-joining the race after a spill to grab the final point in 15th place.

Yonny Hernandez was the final finisher in 16th place, with the Aspar Ducati rider handed a ride-through penalty for jumping the start.

Scott Redding was a retirement on the Pramac Ducati on lap after the British rider had been running in ninth place.

Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) and Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati) collided at the first corner on the opening lap and were ruled out of the race.

Italian MotoGP:1.Jorge Lorenzo2.Marc Marquez3.Andrea Iannone4.Dani Pedrosa5.Andrea Dovizioso6.Maverick Vi?ales7.Bradley Smith8.Danilo Petrucci9.Aleix Espargaro10.Michele Pirro11.Cal Crutchlow12.Hector Barbera13.Eugene Laverty14.Stefan Bradl15.Pol Espargaro16.Yonny Hernandez
Valentino Rossi
Scott Redding
Jack Miller
Alvaro Bautista
Loris Baz