Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo kept his title hopes alive with a dominant win in San Marino.

Jorge Lorenzo led a brilliant race from start to finish to take his third win of the season, ahead of Dani Pedrosa in second with Casey Stoner completing the podium at the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

Repsol Honda’s Stoner looked poised to take the lead in turn one at the start of the race at Misano, but defending world champion Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) fought back and moved to the front in the first corner, holding onto the lead position until crossing the finish line to take his third win of 2011, reducing Stoner’s championship lead to 35 points.

“Today has been an incredible day for us,” Lorenzo said. “I delivered a good race – it was a very tough and long one. Most importantly we won again and also reduced our gap to Casey.

“I want to dedicate this victory to Wayne who returned to Misano this weekend and I want to say thanks to all my team for their hard work. Now we have two weeks before Aragon, I hope to continue in this shape in my country.

“Tomorrow we will try the 1000cc Yamaha again. I am looking forward to riding my future bike. This has been one of the best days of my career!”

Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was third off the start, a deviation from his usual hole shot into the first corner, the Spaniard gradually gaining ground on his teammate until he overtook the Australian on lap 22, to cross the line second. In an unusual bout of fatigue, 25-year-old Stoner was unable to retaliate and finished the race in third.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) fell back to seventh at the start, then made his way back through the pack up to fourth, where he then engaged in a tussle with his rival Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), emerging ahead of his fellow countryman on the last lap to take fourth.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), whose poor start saw the American drop to seventh on the second lap, caught the dueling Italians and looked capable and prepared to make the pass into fourth, but instead got baulked in the final corner to finish sixth behind Dovizioso.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) had a terrific start from his 11th place on the grid, moving up into fifth by lap two, until Simoncelli got ahead of him on lap four and Spies passed him on lap 15.

The seven-time premier class champion completed the race in seventh, ahead of Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) who fulfilled his fourth top-ten finish of the season.

Mapfre Aspar rider Héctor Barberá achieved his sixth top-ten finish of the season with ninth place, ahead of Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who ended his challenging weekend the final finisher in the top ten, just over two seconds in front of Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini).

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) crashed out of the race on lap three, an unfortunate end to an already difficult weekend for the American, while Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) retired to the pits early in the race with what appeared to be tyre problems.

Click here for detailed results