Marc Marquez conquers a new victory in Le Mans. With him on the podium also Danilo Petrucci and Valentino Rossi. Both Johann Zarco and Andrea Dovizioso fell.
This is Marc Marquez third victory in a row: the current World Champion managed to take the lead and kept the race under his control until the chequered flag. He is now the 5th most successful rider in history, with 38 victories in MotoGP (as much as Stoner). A great podium for Danilo Petrucci too; with Valentino Rossi finishing 3rd and gaining another top-3 position after the one he got in Qatar at the beginning of the season. Both Andrea Dovizioso and the local hero Johann Zarco had a terrible race, as they fell in two different accidents.
Lorenzo immediately took the lead, closely followed by Zarco, while Iannone fell down at La Chapelle. Dovizioso performed an excellent comeback, climbing all the way up to the leading duo. His moment of glory didn’t last long because 20 laps before the end we witnessed the first dramatic turn of events: the Ducati rider ended his race with a fearful fall. Local idol Zarco wasn’t luckier, as he finished his race slipping on the gravel while fighting with Marquez for the 2nd place. He managed to ride his bike back to the pit lane but had to retire from the race. It only took Marquez a few laps to gain the leading position in this race, while Lorenzo had some issues and lost ground.
From that moment on, the World Champion was riding solo. He was the only rider with a hard rear tyre: he tried it on track in the morning and clearly made a rewarding choice that allowed him to accumulate and maintain a large safety margin over Petrucci, crossing the finish line as a solo rider, strengthening his leadership in the overall GP ranking. “Petrux” finished 2nd, a well-deserved return to the podium steps for the Italian rider. Valentino Rossi got the 3rd place, ahead of Jack Miller (who has not yet recovered completely).
Dani Pedrosa arrived just behind them, but he is still recovering from the injuries he got in Argentina and Jerez. Jorge Lorenzo closed 6th: not exactly what the Majorcan rider expected from the race as he started as the leading rider. Maverick Viñales finished 7th and Cal Crutchlow 8th, but he is still suffering from the crash in Q1. The last positions in the top 10 went to Aleix Espargaro and Alex Rins, the only representatives of their respective teams as their teammates Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone crashed out.
The ranking
