Amongst the drama and pitfalls of a treacherously wet MotoGP race in Jerez today, Max Biaggi picked his way through to take a solid second place and consolidate his position in the World Championship, collecting the 100th podium of his Grand Prix career along the way.

The 32 year old joins an exclusive club of MotoGP Legends which consists of just four riders to achieved a century of top three finishes, the others being Giacomo Agostini, Angel Nieto, Phil Read and Mike Hailwood. Even five times World Champion Mick Doohan 'only' stood on the podium 95 times, whilst Valentino Rossi's collection currently stands at 91.

However, the Camel Honda rider insisted he was more interested in the present than the past as he reflected on a race which could define his season. "It is a nice statistic but the main thing is that this is the second race of the year and I've got more points now than in any season since 1998 at this point, so that just shows the determination with which I am approaching this season," explained Biaggi.

"We had a few problems in the morning warm-up and changed the set-up to try and fix it. The team did a great job the bike allowed me to challenge at the front throughout the race.

"The gap between myself and Sete was growing and shrinking continually throughout the race but I tried to stay as close as possible until two laps from the end, when I had a big scare and decided to settle for second place.

"I had lost too much ground on Sete in any case so the only thing left to do was congratulate him because he rode a fantastic race".