Toni Elías
At the penultimate round in Portugal, Rossi took pole position on Saturday with Hayden starting in third position. On race day, Hayden was taken out by his teammate Dani Pedrosa on the fifth lap after Pedrosa tried to overtake him but failed, lost the front and hit Hayden, causing both riders to retire. This first and only retirement of the year would hand Rossi the championship by eight points going into the last round of the season. However, because Rossi finished second—just 0.002 behind race winner Toni Elías—he took away five points from Rossi, which would play a crucial role at the last race in Valencia. After the race, Hayden said that he "didn't expect Dani to pull over and let me by, but I definitely didn't expect him to do that."