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Pedrosa fought off front-row rivals Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) to take the hole shot into the first corner of the fourth round of the MotoGP world championship.
Rossi crashed heavily in Saturday's practice session, breaking his right tibia (shin bone). He underwent successful surgery in the afternoon in a two-and-a-half hour operation in which a pin was inserted in his leg. He is expected to be out of racing for four to five months.
Stoner did not have a good first lap, losing places to both Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha) on the first tour of the Mugello circuit. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda) ran off the track and across the gravel but rejoined at the tail end of the pack.
Dovizioso drafted behind Lorenzo up the main straight at the start of the second lap, and then used the pit lane to mount a challenge, but the Spaniard outbraked him and retained second place. Further back, Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda) had had a stunning start, moving up from 14th on the grid to seventh.
Dovizioso continued to pressurise Lorenzo at the front, while Stoner got back past Spies to regain fourth place.
On the third lap, Dovizioso got ahead of second-paced Lorenzo down the main straight and made it stick under braking for the first corner right-hander. He was 0.898 sec behind team mate Pedrosa who was in the lead, but the Spaniard opened up his lead to 1.4 sec over the next two laps.
On lap five, Lorenzo repaid the compliment, drafting Dovizioso down the straight and reclaiming second place - 1.7 sec behind Pedrosa.
On the sixth lap, sixth-placed Nicky Hayden (Marlboro Ducati) lost the front end and crashed out, fortunately unhurt.
Pedrosa continued to race away at the front, opening the gap up to 3.8 sec as Melandri got past Stoner into fourth. Pedrosa's lead was up to 4.8 sec while Lorenzo was just one tenth of a second ahead of Dovizioso.
On lap 8, De Puniet closed up on fifth-placed Stoner who was right behind Melandri. Spies was a second back but was closing up on the three-way battle for fourth place. Stoner got past Melandri, and the Italian ran it wide, allowing de Puniet to close right up with Spies in close attendance too.
At half race distance, race leader Pedrosa had a 6.7 sec lead over Lorenzo, followed by Dovizioso +6.3, Stoner +12.6, Melandri +12.7, De Puniet +13.5 and Spies +13.7.
On lap 13, Stoner went too deep and through went Melandri and de Puniet, while Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati) retired to the pits.
De Puniet went too deep into turn one, allowing Stoner past, but the Frenchman took a different line and punched straight back past the Australian again.
On Lap 21, De Puniet got past Melandri into fourth with Stoner right behind. Then on the penultimate lap, De Puniet got a bit of a tank-slapper leaving the last corner into the start/finish straight, allowing both Melandri and Stoner to accelerate past. Stoner got back past Melandri, who fought back and got ahead again, but Stoner got through once more to seal fourth place.
Results Sunday from the Italian Grand Prix:
MotoGP:
1. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda, 42 minutes, 28.066 seconds.
2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Fiat Yamaha, 4.014 seconds behind.
3. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Repsol Honda, 6.196.
4. Casey Stoner, Austaralia, Ducati Marlboro, 25.703.
5. Marco Melandri, Italy, San Carlo Honda, 25.735.
6. Randy De Puniet, France, LCR Honda, 25.965.
7. Ben Spies, United States, Monster Yamaha, 28.806.
8. Aleix Espargaro, Spain, Pramac Racing, 40.172.
9. Marco Simoncelli, Italy, San Carlo Honda, 41.394.
10. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Rizla Suzuki, 42.107.
Overall Standings (after 4 of 18 races):
1. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Fiat Yamaha, 90.
2. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda, 65.
3. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Fiat Yamaha, 61.
4. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Repsol Honda, 58.
5. Nicky Hayden, United States, Ducati Marlboro, 39.
250cc:
1. Andrea Iannone, Italy, Fimmco, 41 minutes, 5.374 seconds.
2. Sergio Gadea, Spain, Tenerife 40, 2.764 seconds behind.
3. Simone Corsi, Italy, JIR, 2.799.
4. Thomas Luthi, Switzerland, Interwetten Moriwaki, 2.814.
5. Toni Elias, Spain, Gresini Racing, 3.404.
6. Shoya Tomizawa, Japan, Technomag-CIP, 3.826.
7. Gabor Talmacsi, Hungary, Fimmco, 7.209.
8. Yuki Takahashi, Japan, Tech 3 Racing, 8.377.
9. Julian Simon, Spain, Mapfre Aspar, 8.584.
10. Alex Debon, Spain, Aeroport de Castello, 8.931.
Overall Standings (after 4 of 18 races):
1. Toni Elias, Spain, Gresini Racing, 74 points.
2. Shoya Tomizawa, Japan, Technomag-CIP, 55.
3. Simone Corsi, Italy, JIR, 51.
4. Sergio Gadea, Spain, Tenerife 40, 46.
5. Andrea Iannone, Italy, Fimmco, 38.
125cc:
1. Marc Marquez, Spain, Red Bull, 39 minutes, 53.153 seconds.
2. Nicolas Terol, Spain, Bancaja Aspar, 0.039 seconds behind.
3. Pol Espargaro, Spain, Tuenti Racing, 0.116.
4. Bradley Smith, Britain, Bancaja Aspar, 0.161.
5. Efren Vazquez, Spain, Tuenti Racing, 10.281.
6. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland, Stipa-Molenaar, 10.364.
7. Esteve Rabat, Spain, Blusens-STX, 10.562.
8. Tomoyoshi Koyama, Japan, Racing Team, 36.341.
9. Johann Zarco, France, WTR San Marino, 36.411.
10. Danny Webb, Britain, Andalucia Cajasol, 36.730.
Overall Standings (after 4 of 18 races):
1. Nicolas Terol, Spain, Bancaja Aspar, 85 points.
2. Pol Espargaro, Spain, Tuenti Racing, 79.
3. Marc Marquez, Spain, Red Bull, 57.
4. Bradley Smith, Britain, Bancaja Aspar, 45.
5. Efren Vazquez, Spain, Tuenti Racing, 44.
