Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner contemplated giving up halfway through the Catalan MotoGP race today as severe stomach cramps meant he could hardly ride his Desmosedici.

The Aussie former world champion was forced to back his pace right off or risk crashing out of third position. He managed to finish the race on the podium and now ties with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo for the championship lead.

“I haven’t felt in great shape all weekend – I wasn’t ill but I wasn’t quite myself. Then last night I couldn’t sleep, I probably got a couple of hours at the most, and after just a couple of laps this morning I was destroyed," said Stoner.

"I decided to race myself, basically, and bring home as many points as I could manage but my bike was fantastic and that is why I was able to ride it to a really valuable podium. The team did a perfect job after the warm-up and if I wasn’t so ill, I think I could have stayed with Valentino and Jorge until the end, although I’m not saying I could have beaten them.

"I started to suffer from really strong cramps and I could barely ride – I was falling over the front of the bike in the hard-braking areas and I was struggling to keep my concentration. I thought about stopping but decided to just back off for a while and try to hang on for a top ten. The bike was so good that I was able to keep up a decent pace and hold off Dovizioso."