above: Rossi on the 2004 Gauloises Yamaha - photo © Elliot L Doering

The re-surfaced Barcelona circuit has a mix of fast bends and straights, and no small amount of gradient. Slipstreaming and hard braking allow for overtaking opportunities, and the Honda RC211V - traditionally more powerful, or at least fastest in a straight line - would seem a good bet to take victory here. However, Rossi and the more nimble Yamaha M1 had disproved the theory in 2004, and a year before the impressive new Ducati Desmosedici had triumphed, in the hands of Loris Capirossi.

But Spanish fans had reason to be encouraged by the results from qualifying, as nine-time GP winner Gibernau took his second pole position of the season, and ninth in total. Lap times were almost as close as at Mugello, with the top eleven riders within the same second. The MoviStar Honda team had a one-two, with 22-year-old Marco Melandri equalling his best result to slot in behind team-mate Sete, and Honda’s two works (Repsol) riders were on the second row.

Separating Max Biaggi (fourth) and Nicky Hayden (fifth) from the leading RCVs was Rossi, third for Gauloises Yamaha. On this occasion, the next M1 was that of team-mate Colin Edwards in P7, with the Tech 3 team bikes back on row six. Either side of Edwards came the Marlboro Ducatis of Capirossi (sixth) and Carlos Checa (eighth), with the Camel Pons Honda of Alex Barros closing out row three, six spots ahead of colleague Troy Bayliss, and with the Konica Minolta machine of Makoto Tamada tenth.

The ‘other’ Japanese bikes slotted between Tamada and Bayliss, with John Hopkins (Suzuki) leading Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki), Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Alex Hofmann (Kawasaki). In Sixteenth was Rubén Xaus, from Roberto Rolfo, David Checa, Proton’s Shane Byrne, and the WCM bikes of James Ellison and Franco Battaini.

The race start went well for Honda’s riders, with Gibernau emerging ahead of Melandri, Biaggi and Hayden. But sixth man Rossi was on a mission, making quick work of Capirossi and the two Repsol Hondas to move into third. An action packed first lap then saw Melandri pass Gibernau at Seat, a left-hairpin turn with downhill braking on entry. The positions of this pair were reversed at La Caixa, the looping left-hander at the end of the back straight. Rossi followed Gibernau past his countryman.

After a lap, Gibernau led Rossi, Melandri, Hayden, Barros and Melandri, and these six would go on to contest the top places throughout most of the race. But the order was anything but stable in the early stages, with moves and drama aplenty to come. Both Rossi and Melandri went to the inside of Gibernau for turn one, a right-hander called Elf, and following the longest straight on the track. Marco’s late braking forced Valentino wide, so that Sete recovered second behind his team-mate. He again took over in front at La Caixa, but didn’t hold it for long.

Now Barros joined in the action, briefly taking third from Rossi, whilst Hayden and Biaggi sat behind, and Tamada, Edwards and Capirossi were next in line. A serious incident was narrowly avoided when Gibernau, braking late at Seat, made light contact with the rear of Melandri and had to take avoiding action. The only consequence was a place lost to Rossi. Meanwhile, the first seven began to break clear of Edwards; and Barros, then Tamada, then Gibernau and then Hayden all broke the lap record.

Barros’ pace was compromised when he ran wide at Elf, letting Hayden through but then recovering and blocking Biaggi’s route, the Roman losing out to Tamada. As Gibernau attacked, Rossi passed Melandri at turn one, the Spaniard following him past. There now evolved a battle for third between Melandri and Hayden, which allowed the first two to start to stretch out of reach. As Nicky and Marco swapped places, so Barros got involved and passed the pair of them.

Gibernau slipstreamed Rossi to pass him at Elf, and these two spent many more laps in this order as they took control. Sete had medium compound front tyre rubber, to the hard Michelin tyre used by Valentino, and it helped him to improve on the fastest lap as he moved to a lead of around 0.5 or 0.6s. The gap behind the Italian went out to three seconds and more, but ‘the Doctor’ responded in the latter stages as he cut Sete’s margin to 0.2 or 0.3s.

A clue as to how Rossi’s tyres were holding up came with five laps to go, when he went wide at La Caixa, but had the pace to re-gain the lost ground as soon as turn two on the next lap. With three laps left, Rossi powered through the exit of the final turn to move into Gibernau’s slipstream along the main straight. He overtook at Elf, proceeding to set the fastest lap.

Sete stayed close and, although the gap crept beyond 0.5s through successive intermediates, he was just 0.3s back going onto the final lap. However, Valentino was in control, and the Spaniard could not get close enough. By the finish line Rossi had gained a second on his rival, who later confirmed that he’d been struggling with a lack of front grip just when he needed it.

The group contesting second had been reduced by one fairly early on, when Tamada’s attempt to get his season going properly had ended as he slid off in the fast Campsa right-hander. He had been running sixth at the time. The bunch comprising Hayden, Melandri, Barros and Biaggi had gradually spread out, but with the pair in the middle staying close as they battled on. Several times Barros passed Melandri, but the younger man always had a reply.

They settled down with Melandri ahead and Barros staying close as they reduced the gap to Hayden again. This became a three-way tussle, with Marco passing Nicky more than once at Elf, sometimes sliding the Honda on the brakes, and in the end Hayden lost out to both his pursuers. A last lap attempt by Barros on Melandri again failed as he went too wide at La Caixa, but the Brazilian held onto fourth ahead of former team-mate Hayden.

Biaggi finished in a distant fifth, whilst Edwards maintained sixth, but a long way from the winners. Bayliss had come through past a number of runners, going from fifteenth at one stage to an eventual eighth, ahead of Nakano and Xaus. The Ducatis of Checa and Capirossi were 11th and 12th, which was a disappointment as Loris had run ninth, with Carlos in behind him. David Checa, Rolfo, Roberts, Byrne, Hofmann (after a rear tyre change), Ellison and Battaini were the ‘also ran’ finishers, whilst Hopkins had been the second to retire folloing his own tyre change.

A fifth win for Valentino Rossi had taken his points lead to an impressive 58, with only five points missed from a possible 150. Marco Melandri made it three thirds and three fourths to maintain second overall, whilst team-mate Sete Gibernau homed in on third man Max Biaggi. Both Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi maintained unbroken scoring records, but in the Italian’s case his result was far behind where he had finished a week earlier, and Colin continued to be overshadowed by his famous team leader.

Standings after six races: Rossi 145; Melandri 87; Biaggi 77; Gibernau 73; Barros 65; Edwards 57; Hayden 47; Capirossi 43; Nakano 40; Checa 33; Bayliss 32; Jacque 25.

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