Former MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was finally able to take the fight to runaway leader Marc Marquez at Mugello today and although he still lost to the Repsol Honda wunderkind, it's the first time he has been anywhere close all year.

The Spaniard was just a tenth of a second behind Marqez at the end of a titanic scrap which saw 14 passes between the two countrymen while Valentino Rossi held a watching brief from just too far away/

"Obviously, when you finish so close to first position, you're not completely happy because the goal was so close but comparing this race to the others in the season," said Lorenzo, spealking at the track.

"I could be more happy if I had won but I tried my best. Probably in the last corner I should have stayed more in the inside to try to overtake him on the inside line but I made a mistake and went wider and it was impossible to overtake him on the straight.

"When I feel physically strong and the bike has a small improvement I can be there and fight with him. We have some margin, some physical condition to improve for me and the bike can make another step so we will get better. I’ve worked really hard to be more physically fit and the team also worked very hard this weekend to give me a great bike.

"We finally found something with the braking and I was able to fight with Marc, not everywhere, maybe 60 per cent so that is a step forward. With a higher teop speed, maybe we could break away as I think I was a little faster as when he passed, it seemed a little slower."