Yamaha's Valentino Rossi consolidated his MotoGP championship lead on Sunday by cruising to his seventh consecutive Italian Grand Prix win.

Italian Rossi, winner of the preceding races in France and China, recovered from a sluggish start from pole to take the lead within four laps.

The five-times premium class world champion, donning a fancy helmet with his own face on top, never let it go and finished over two seconds ahead of Australian world champion Casey Stoner on a Ducati.

Spain's Dani Pedrosa came in third on a Honda, while San Marino's Alex de Angelis, also on a Honda, finished fourth after starting on the fourth row of the grid.