Valentino Rossi wrote another chapter in his extraordinary career in Holland today, becoming only the second rider in history to reach 100 Grand Prix wins. 13 years after his very first victory in 125cc, the Italian took the hat-trick of pole position, fastest lap and race win with a perfect display in front of a huge Assen crowd to pass the century mark. It was his 40th win since joining Yamaha in 2004, meaning that over half of his premier-class wins have come with the Japanese factory.

His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished a strong second and had a milestone of his own to celebrate as it was the fiftieth podium of his career. Like Rossi, The Mallorcan has now finished on the podium in all but one round this season. Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and James Toseland made it four Yamahas in the top six after finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

The eight-time World Champion got a strong start from pole and was second at the end of the first lap, passing Casey Stoner soon after to take a lead which he never relinquished. With his M1 and Bridgestone tyres working perfectly throughout, his race pace was even better than he had shown in practice and he gradually stretched his lead from Lorenzo in the latter stages of the race to seal his historic victory. The 30-year-old Italian and his fan-club joined forces on the slow-down lap to unroll a 25-metre banner which pictured every one of his 100 wins, spanning a career which began when he was 17 years old.

Lorenzo had a poor start and lost several positions in the early melee, leaving him to fight his way back to the front in the early laps. It took him until lap five to come through to second but by then Rossi had opened up a gap of nearly 1.5 seconds. The 22-year-old looked to be closing on his team-mate a little at mid race distance but in the latter stages he began to lose a bit of confidence in the front and was happy enough to settle for second and an important 20 points.

With Stoner finishing third today the championship standings remain tight at the top – Rossi leads on 131 points, Lorenzo is second on 126 and Stoner is hard on his heels with 122. The MotoGP paddock now heads directly to California and Laguna Seca for round eight in a week’s time.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 1st Time: 42′14.611
“This is a very emotional moment and for sure I will remember this 100th victory for the rest of my life. When I reached 70, 100 seemed a long way away but here I am and it has been great, great fun getting here. It is down to so many people, like Jeremy and my guys who have been with me for ten years and all of the team who always give 100% and always give me the best bike possible. Especially however I have to thank the friends who have been with me my whole life and my father Graziano, who won here in Assen 30 years ago when I was a baby, and my mother Stefania, because they have always supported me. It’s great to reach this moment here at Assen because it’s the ‘Cathedral’ of motorcycle racing and the most historic track we go to. Today was a perfect race – I got a great start and my bike was incredible which meant that my pace was very strong. In fact I think it was better for everyone’s hearts not to have another last-lap battle like in Barcelona! I had a good advantage from Lorenzo in some parts of the track and it was a great ride for me. Now I have 100 wins and I’m only the second rider to arrive at this number, but Agostini still has 22 more and for me he is still the greatest. 100 is a great result but the atmosphere in our team is wonderful and the motivation is still as high as ever – we want to win a few more races together yet!”

James Toseland – Position 6th Time: +0′39.347
“I was a bit nervous on the start because I’d no experience with a new clutch set-up we were running. The crash in the warm-up meant I didn’t try it before the race, but I did a pretty good start but still lost three or four places. I knew I’d got a pretty good race set-up so just tried to stay calm and in the first couple of laps I took advantage of that to get into the top ten. It was an incredible battle for most of the race and I knew I wasn’t much stronger than the rest and I knew if I got to the front that it wasn’t going to be a case of me pulling away. I knew once I was at the front of the bunch that it would be a case of protecting it. That’s exactly what I did but it was nearly all spoiled on the last lap. I was getting ready to pass Mika at the last corner when Elias came under me at Turn 10. That let Loris through too and I’d gone from sixth to ninth! It was so chaotic I didn’t even see Kallio crash and I thought when Elias dived under Loris at the last chic ane that they might run off. Fortunately for me they did and I took advantage of it, and leading that group for so long I think I deserved sixth. It has been great to work with Mr Nakajima and I feel quite privileged to have his help and it just shows that I’m still on Yamaha’s thoughts and they want me to get up to speed.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager
“That was easily the best race of the season for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I’m delighted because everybody has put in a lot of hard work. Colin was very impressive again and again he is the best non-factory rider, which considering how tough the competition is now, that is a great achievement. I have to say massive congratulations to James. He’s not had an easy time but he was able to lead an incredible fight in a group that included some of the very best riders in this championship. It was not easy to lead that group like he did but he did an unbelievable job and he definitely deserved that top six. He is a fighter and he proved that today and it was great that we played a big part in Yamaha’s success today, with all four bikes in the top six. I’d also like to say a big thanks to Mr Nakajima from Yamaha. He made an extra special effort and given big support to James this weekend. Now we go to Colin’s home race and a huge race for Monster in very confident mood .”