The defending world champion started from third on the grid but pushed his Yamaha in front of polesitter Pedrosa before the first curve and never looked back.

"My start was very important," said Lorenzo. "I started even better than I had hoped and was able to get by Dani. Then it was cat and mouse for a while before I could open up a gap."

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Lorenzo's third win in six races this season and 26th career MotoGP victory left him in second place with 116 points.

Pedrosa crossed the line second and leads the standings with 123. Marquez completed the Spanish sweep in front of the home fans. The newcomer is third with 93 points.

Track temperatures reached 51 degrees Celsius, leading to several riders crashing out when their tires lost grip on the 4.73-kilometer (2.94-mile) Circuit de Catalunya.

Lorenzo needed a flawless performance to keep Pedrosa at bay during the middle stretch of the race. After that point, Pedrosa was more concerned with maintaining second place with Marquez putting up a tough challenge right to the end.

Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi finished in fourth place, more than five seconds off Lorenzo's pace. Briton Cal Crutchlow, who started from second on the grid, spun out on a curve while running fourth.

Pedrosa said that the high temperatures gave all the riders trouble.

"At the beginning I was pretty comfortable with Jorge, but then the tires started to degrade and all three of us went slower," Pedrosa said. "I was a long distance from Jorge and could never get close enough to try and overtake him. It was easy to fall so I didn't want to take any chances."

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