Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez opened his account at Mugello this morning, setting the fastest time in first free practice and edging out early leader Valentino Rossi by three-tenths of a second.
Movistar Yamaha's Rossi had led from half-distance with a 1'48.386 set on his eighth lap of 17 but Marquez stormed to the top of the sheets with only minutes left to run, putting in a 1'48.004 on the Repsol Honda.
Andrea Iannone put his soft tyre to good use on his last lap, slotting in to third place with a 1'48.434 just ahead of works Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso who was at the business end for the whole session and cemented his fourth place with a 1'48.518 late on.
Jorge Lorenzo is six-tenths off the pace in fifth with Aleix Espargaro sixth and Stefan Bradl in seventh. Cal Crutchlow slipped from fourth to eighth but is less than a second off the pace with a 1'48.980.
Alvaro Bautista in ninth despite a crash and Britain's Bradley Smith rounded out the top ten. Dani Pedrosa is in a dismal 11th place while Pol Espargaro recovered from a huge turn one crash which destroyed the front end of his Monster Yamaha to end in 12th.
Colin Edwards has debuted a new frame on the Forward NGM Yamaha and is down in 13th with Scott Redding in 18th and Michael Laverty in 21st.
