Miller initially took the holeshot from third on the grid and led the first three laps before Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo came through at the end of the fourth tour.
Although Quartararo was able to build a gap of over a second shortly after taking the lead, Miller’s pace was similar to that of the Yamaha rider.
When Quartararo encountered a suspected problem with the arm pump on lap 14, Miller was able to maintain a lead of 1.2 seconds between himself and Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia on the final lap.
This is Miller’s first win since the Dutch TT in 2016, although the Australian admitted that he had to work much harder for it than for his “shock” Assen win in the wet.
“I don’t know if I’ll be back, let’s say I’m finally here,” Miller said on the Sunday after the race.
“The last time I won it was a big old shock when it was wet. I definitely scratched my ass off this one to get this.
“I’ve never driven so precisely in my entire life, so well. I don’t think I’ve done 25 laps in a row like this in my life.
“So it’s fantastic to have that.”
Jack Miller, Ducati team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Miller said he had a “roller coaster ride” full of emotion after the race and thanked Ducati management for “trusting me” after criticizing a difficult start into 2021.
“It’s out of this world, honestly,” he said of his win.
“Since that checkered flag… I’ve been on this bloody roller coaster since Turn 12 and it just keeps going.
“I cry and sob like a baby, the next minute I’ll be so mad.
“I don’t know, it is too difficult to put into words what I am feeling today.
“It was just a phenomenal weekend, I was able to get stronger and stronger every weekend, and I owe it that I only bowed my head in FP1, FP4, only drove laps on my own and as we saw when I saw it Fabio began to dismount. I thought I have to try.
“I checked and saw how many laps there were left and I thought this is a long time to itself, are you sure you have that?”
“I had this conversation in my helmet. I can’t thank everyone at Ducati for getting my back from Gigi [Dall’Igna]to Davide [Tardozzi]to Paolo [Campinotti]to Claudio [Domenicalli].
“Claudio was in my corner the whole time and believed in me.
“I can’t thank them enough, I can’t thank my mom and dad enough, everyone. It’s just a flurry of emotions. “