Photographs courtesy of Dorna - click to enlarge

There are some people, and I admit that I have been among them, who have been rather dismissive of Max Biaggi in recent times. It has been suggested that he's lost the ability or the hunger or perhaps the undefinable racing edge that is so essential. Some have even gone so far as to say that he is on his last legs and will probably fade away after the next season or two if he doesn't do great things right now.

Maybe the critics are right, but Max Biaggi's performance this weekend suggests that the enigmatic Roman may still have a few tricks up his sleeve.

Mugello is Ducati's home track, just 20 minutes from their factory. It is sometimes called the heart of Italian Motorsport and, while I'm not sure that is a fair description, there can be no doubting the passion of the fans who flock here to see their heroes in action. The circuit itself is flowing and a pleasure to ride. The elevation changes make it interesting as a rider while the fearsomely fast main straight sees even MotoGP bikes top out before shedding probably 150mph to take the near hairpin at the end. Boring it isn't and the succession of bends play to the strengths of better handling bikes while the climbs and long straight give an edge to the power machines. In other words there's something for everyone.

Qualifying saw Sete Gibernau on fine form, setting an unbeatable time on his Honda ahead of Max Biaggi in his first front row start for far too long. Biaggi sat immediately ahead of Loris Capirossi on the wayward and frankly brutish Ducati who was just outqualified by the transatlantic pairing of John Hopkins on the Suzuki and Biaggi's team-mate Nicky Hayden. So a good day at the office for the factory Honda boys. Gibernau must have been pleased to qualify a full five places ahead of his team-mate Marco Melandri while further down the grid Shane Byrne got the Proton off the last row, qualifying just one place and a few tenths of a second behind Honda's Troy Bayliss. This speaks volumes both for the progress that Proton KR are making and for the dismal time that the likeable Bayliss is having on the Camel Honda.

But there's one person who hasn't been mentioned. My mistake. When I said that Sete Gibernau's time was unbeatable, I meant, of course, unbeatable by any normal human. But newly honoured Valentino Rossi, who now actually is Doctor Rossi courtesy of an honourary doctorate from the University of Urbino, isn't a normal human. Rossi put his Yamaha into the pole slot in the dying seconds of qualifying to the delight of the crowd.

I should explain something here. I have in the past referred to some crowds at British events as patriotic or partisan. I stand by that but need to find a superlative to describe the way that Italian fans swing in behind Italian riders. There is, quite simply, nothing like it on earth. Unless, of course, the Italian rider is on an Italian bike...

So. Raceday. What a surprise - beautiful and sunny in Italy in June. Who'd have guessed it?

When the lights went out and the first corner loomed there were a few surprises for everyone. Dr Rossi wasn't leading. Nobody fell off. And Marco Melandri came from seventh to the front in one corner. OK, so lots of people were moving out of his way to avoid getting skittled, but it was a hell of a move. Probably one that surprised him a bit as well. Anyway. The race soon settled down to something vaguely resembling normal service except for the leading group. Rossi, Biaggi, Melandri and Gibernau were right in the thick of it, racing as hard as we've seen this season and swapping paint and positions while Loris Capirossi bullied, cajoled and physically wrestled the Ducati around the circuit fast enough to stay well in the hunt. Lap six and Gibernau, who had been visibly struggling to maintain the pace, went for an early bath in the gravel, lowsiding the Honda and finishing both his race and, realistically, his title challenge. In fairness, the passionately, rabidly even, partisan crowd waited to see that the Spaniard was OK before the jeering started. Tough audience.

So up at the front the lead swapped regularly between Rossi, Biaggi and Melandri. Rossi timed his overtakes to pass in the section where he knew his fan club to be. Biaggi, riding like a man posessed, took the lead in front of his fanclub. Then Rossi took it back. Also in front of Biaggi's fanclub... Marco Melandri is possibly the latest braker in MotoGP, and is certainly not lacking in talent or courage. And that allowed him to take the lead on a couple of occasions. But he continually outbraked himself and ran into corners too hot, going wide on the exit and losing time to the clinically clean Biaggi and the sliding Rossi. And, ultimately, to the unreasonably determined Loris Capirossi, who mugged the Honda rider on the penultimate lap and managed to make it stick. Just.

So Rossi took the win by a few tenths from Biaggi ahead of Capirossi and Melandri. Further back, carlos Checa completed a good day for Ducati by finishing fifth ahead of Nicky Hayden while Alex Barros did well, hauling himself up from nowhere at all to come home seventh. Newly fit Makoto Tamada came in eighth, the victor in a race long tussle with Colin Edwards while Shinya Nakano had a rather better outing than last year, finishing tenth instead of winning "Fastest crash survivor ever" as last year.

Shakey Byrne deserves an honourable mention, bringing the underpowerd Proton in sixteenth - a minute down on the leaders but crucially on the same lap and by no means last. Troy Bayliss lost out to Alex Hoffman, finishing just behind the Kawasaki rider in thirteenth place. Scary thought - for me anyway - at 36 Troy is by far the oldest man on the grid and is a full 14 years older than Marco Melandri, the youngest.

Anyhow. The results put Rossi in an almost unassailable position for the championship. Sete Gibernau is almost certainly a spent force while anyone else will have to have a combination of staggeringly good luck and outrageous ability to even get close to the man who looks as though he's just going to run away with it all. Again.

But Man of the Match this week at least belongs to Max Biaggi. And about time, too.

Results

1 V Rossi, Yamaha
2 M Biaggi, Honda
3 L Capirossi, Ducati
4 M Melandri, Honda
5 C Checa, Ducati
6 N Hayden, Honda
7 A Barros, Honda
8 M Tamada, Honda
9 C Edwards, Honda
10 S Nakano, Kawasaki

Championship Standing after 5 rounds

120 V Rossi
71 M Melandri
67 M Biaggi
53 S Gibernau
52 A Barros
48 C Edwards
39 L Capirossi
36 N Hayden
33 19 S Nakano
28 C Checa