Winners at the podium.

MANILA, Philippines -- Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa won his first victory of the year in Estoril last Sunday after shadowing Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo for much of the race before moving ahead in the final stages. Pedrosa’s 13th premier-class win and his first success at Estoril moves him to within four points of series leader Lorenzo with three of 18 rounds done.

Honda teammates Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso finished third and fourth respectively, with Dovizioso snatching his position from Ducati’s Valentino Rossi right at the finish line.

The race got underway in cool conditions, with the track a bit slippery after two days of rain showers.

Stoner had a huge moment exiting the very first turn, then Marco Simoncelli highsided three corners later at turn four which also claimed Ducati’s Hector Barbera. Simoncelli was battered and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

Lorenzo led the race from pole position chased hard by Pedrosa and the positions stayed like that for 24 laps, the two Spaniards just meters apart as Pedrosa watched and waited.

Pedrosa didn’t know what to expect because this was his first race since he underwent further surgery on the left shoulder he injured in last October’s Japanese GP.

Following last month’s Spanish GP, surgeons operated to relieve pressure on a pinched artery that had been interrupting blood flow in the shoulder. The fact that Pedrosa was able to race to the finish without numbness or loss of strength seems to indicate that the operation was a success.

The race was a masterful tactical display from the 25-year-old. On lap 25, he drew level with Lorenzo and out-braked him into the first turn. Twice in the next three laps he broke the lap record to give his rival no chance to counter attack. Pedrosa crossed the line 3.051 seconds in front.

Stoner spent most of the race alone in third to bring home valuable points following his DNF at Jerez where he was knocked off by Rossi.

The Australian has struggled all weekend to get his RC212V working perfectly on this bumpy, patchy racetrack and lacked some feeling during the race, especially in left-handers during the early stages. A further problem was a recurring back injury, which struck him mid-race, putting him in serious pain and discomfort. Stoner has had back problems following a crash at the 2003 Catalan GP.

If Pedrosa left his move to the late stages, Dovizioso left his until the final seconds of the race. The Italian shadowed Rossi from the first lap to the last, apparently unable to make any inroads into his compatriot. In fact he had been biding his time and he timed his attack to perfection, getting superb drive out of the final corner to beat Rossi by 0.025s.

The next round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship, the French Grand Prix, takes place at Le Mans on May 15.