PICS: Jorge Lorenzo gets launched from the lead

These pictures show double MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo being launched from his Yamaha while leading Sunday's Valencia season finale (see below for further images).

The dramatic incident occurred as he attempted to lap James Ellison at the midway stage of the wet/dry 30-lap race. Lorenzo got into a tank-slapper, which turned into a highside on corner exit.

The #99 walked away sore, but without serious injury.

The Spaniard, who secured his second premier-class title at the previous Australian round, was on target for his seventh win of the season.

That instead went to Championship runner-up Dani Pedrosa, whom Lorenzo was leading by over four-seconds at the time of his fall.

"I'm happy because we are world champions and that is the most important thing. Maybe if we had arrived here without the title decided it could have been another story and I wouldn't be so happy," said Lorenzo, who was one of the few riders to correctly choose slick tyres on the grid.

"I had a lot of hopes to win today, I chose a really risky tyre strategy and I was making a really good race. Dani was catching me a little bit, but then I managed to have a four-second lead [after Pedrosa made a mistake].

"Then I came up to the slower riders and I'm not sure what happened, maybe the marshals didn't put up the blue flags quickly enough but I was losing time stuck behind them.

"I was behind Ellison and I thought he saw me, but he stayed on the racing line. I tried to overtake him and made a mistake on the wet tarmac. A big highside."

Lorenzo will return to the Valencia circuit on Tuesday for the start of winter testing, alongside 2013 team-mate Valentino Rossi.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the performance of Valentino with Yamaha and Marquez with Honda. It will be interesting," he said.