(L to R) Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins

A crowd of 130,000 Spaniards ecstatically cheered Pedrosa to the victory which saw him overcome a 24 point deficit to secure the 2007 MotoGP runner-up spot, behind World Champion Casey Stoner - who himself finished second in today's race by a 5.447s gap.

Although Pedrosa started on pole Stoner was in the lead in the early stages, but the Repsol Honda man fought back for victory over the young Aussie, while John Hopkins signed off from the Rizla Suzuki team by completing the podium before his move to Kawasaki.

Rossi, meanwhile, finishes third in the championship for the first time in his Grand Prix career as he was forced to retire on lap 20 due to problems with his bike, having bravely got up to 14th from 17th on the grid - despite riding with fractured bones in his right hand.

The top five was completed by Marco Melandri (Honda Gresini) and his Italian compatriot Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro). Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) was sixth, whilst Brazilian veteran Alex Barros (Pramac d’Antin) ended his MotoGP career in seventh.

The top ten was completed by Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda), Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki Racing) and Toni Elias (Honda Gresini), whilst the Carlos Checa (Honda LCR) was 12th.

Results