This race was most notable for the threeway battle for victory between Mick Doohan, Carlos Checa and Àlex Crivillé.

The second row of the grid consists out of Tadayuki Okada in fifth, Luca Cadalora in sixth, Àlex Crivillé in seventh and Kenny Roberts Jr. in eighth.

At the start/finish straight they ride side-by-side but eventually Aoki brakes later and leads the field going into Elf (Turn 1) on the opening lap.

Sete Gibernau meanwhile has already retired from the race after he lost the front end and slid into the gravel trap at Elf.

At the short straight coming up to La Caixa (Turn 10), Okada takes over the lead by going up the inside of Aoki at the slow right-hand corner.

On lap five, Doohan overtakes Okada for second place at the end of the short straight before La Caixa by going up the inside of the Spaniard.

Lap six and Aoki makes a move at Repsol (Turn 4), diving up the inside of Okada and taking third as a result.

Lap nine and Doohan looks to be making a pass on Crivillé, but instead gets surprised by Checa who overtakes the Australian at the end of the start/finish straight and into Elf.

At the short straight before La Caixa, Checa goes wide after miscalculating his breaking point, allowing Doohan to take second position back upon exit.

As Doohan crosses the start/finish straight to begin lap fifteen, he pulls to the right to make sure Checa doesn't have his slipstream.

On lap seventeen, Doohan takes back the lead from Checa thanks to the Repsol Honda's superior top line speed at the start/finish straight.

At Repsol, Aoki tries to take third by going up the inside of Crivillé but runs wide upon exit, gifting the place back to the Spaniard.

On lap nineteen, Crivillé now has a significant gap back to Cadalora, meaning that it has become a three-way battle for the win.

Barros retires from the race after a highside at Elf caused him to slide out of contention and into the gravel trap.

Lap twenty and Checa has pulled a slight gap back to third place Crivillé, who is being shadowed by Cadalora.

He goes side-by-side, then passes Doohan on the inside at the beginning of Elf under loud cheering from the majority Spanish and Catalan fans.

During the parade lap back to parc fermé, Doohan throws his arms in the air to celebrate his win.

The Australian national anthem plays for Doohan, with the man receiving the champagne as it ends, cheekily spraying one of the girls as he does so.