20 years ago Toni Elias beat Rossi by 0.002s, a MotoGP record

On 15 October 2006 at the Portuguese GP in Estoril, Toni Elias took the only premier-class win of his career. He beat Valentino Rossi by 0.002 seconds, the smallest gap between the top two finishers in MotoGP history. Elias started the race 13th in the championship and was not seen as a favourite.

On lap four, Dani Pedrosa lost control and took down Nicky Hayden, the championship leader. Elias pulled off two very late braking moves at Turn 1 during the race. On the final lap, that move took him from third to first, Rossi got the lead back at the chicane, and the pair crossed the line side by side.

Hayden limited the damage to eight points behind Rossi ahead of the Valencia finale, where Rossi crashed and Hayden took the title. Elias never won another MotoGP race, but became the first Moto2 world champion. An identical margin in the 500cc era came at Brno in 1996, when Alex Criville beat Mick Doohan.