English
Italiano
It has been since Qatar that we had been waiting for a Rossi-Viñales head to head and nobody was disappointed! At Le Mans, Maverick rose again, whereas the Doctor fell. That about sums up the French round, a race not for the faint of heart, where the Spaniard is once again back on the top step after Argentina. However, it was not so simple for him, because at the start of the race he had to reckon with Johann Zarco and then with Rossi the shark. The Doctor came through over race distance, arriving in the finale to call the Spaniard’s leadership into question.
For the first time, the two teammates locked horns in an exciting head to head which kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Valentino seemed to have found the right opening in the penultimate lap, but then he went long, momentarily conceding the lead to his teammate. Then, when the two challengers were once again face to face for the final duel on the final lap, came a clamorous crash for the Doctor, just two corners from the chequered flag.
Number 46 ended up in the gravel, losing the rear an thereby giving Viñales the gift of his third win and the Championship lead: “I gave 110% with Vale – Maverick said on the day of win number 500 for Yamaha – In the third sector I felt fast. In fact, I never gave up. This is a victory that makes me very happy, because I had not won since Rio Hondo.”
Rossi’s was not the only crash of the day, because at the mid-race point Marc Marquez also went down on turn three while lying fourth. For the five-time world champion, this is the second zero of the season.
And so, hometown hero Johann Zarco finished on the podium at Le Mans. At the start the Tech3 rider had managed to take the race in hand, but then he had to reckon with the two Factory Yamahas:” It is truly fantastic – the Moto2 champion said – I think I had a great start, managing the tyre well too. When Valentino passed me he was really fast – he added – I thought that I was going to see a great battle between him and Maverick, then Rossi crashed and I finished on the podium in second place.”
Dani Pedrosa finished third after starting from the thirteenth spot on the grid. The Honda rider demonstrated an impressive pace, able to close the gap and finish out the Spanish trio: “I am super happy - Dani commented - from the first turn I was well aware of the difficulties. I needed to be aggressive and maintain my pace – he added – then Rossi crashed and it was a nice gift to be on the podium.”
Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth ahead of Crutchlow and Lorenzo. Then came Folger, Miller, Baz and Iannone. The Pramax Ducatis and Aleix Espargaró’s Aprilia did not finish with Guintoli fifteenth from Smith and Lowes.
