The Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli incident promoted Valentino Rossi on to the podium since Pedrosa could not continue the race after the incident and Simoncelli was given a ride through penalty that dropped him down the order. With two fast and strong riders out of the way, Rossi found himself the gift of third place and a podium on a Ducati for the first time. Rossi was delighted with his podium and said so in as many words, though he expressed what seemed to be genuine sympathy for Dani Pedrosa. Rossi is now fifth in the world championship standings after four races.