At round five in Italy, Gibernau registered his second DNF of the season. After narrowly losing out on the pole against Rossi by just +0.138 seconds on Saturday, Capirossi took the race lead behind Gibernau when Rossi was demoted to fifth when the lights went out on Sunday. However, when Rossi fought his way back into the lead in just one lap, Gibernau lacked the pace and was overtaken by Rossi on lap one. The top two began to break away from Gibernau, before being overtaken by Biaggi and Capirossi on lap two. Gibernau then lowsided out of contention at a downhill right-hander, retiring from the race in the process.