MotoGP™ – Showdown at Le Mans: Viñales vs Rossi in the #FrenchGP

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The first Movistar Yamaha duel of the season saw Maverick Viñales the man to take the stunning 500th win for Yamaha after a clash of the titans at Le Mans– with the tremors from the French GP felt throughout the Championship standings as the dust settles. With both Yamahas dueling on the last lap, the number 46 dramatically slid out of contention from behind his teammate to lose the Championship lead – and join Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez on the list of those leaving Le Mans empty handed.

The headlines came thick and fast, with Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) taking the lead off Viñales off the line and the two factory Yamaha machines slotting in behind. The Frenchman held firm at the front in style until Viñales made his move and once past, the rider from Roses pushed to make a gap and leave the Frenchman to duel it out with his teammate. Zarco, the rookie held on with some stunning pace in his home race.

As the gap finally began to grow, Rossi pulled the pin from third to overtake the Frenchman and go on the charge. The ‘Doctor’ reeled his teammate in at the front, passed him, and then looked to escape – but the two blue machines were set for a spectacular last lap duel.

It was the ‘Doctor’ ahead as that last lap dawned, before an uncharacteristic mistake let Viñales back through and the number 46 pushed hard to close back in. Close in he did, before the final stroke of drama for the day suddenly found the nine-time World Champion sliding out, watching his teammate disappear into the distance.

The Championship leader was points leader no more, with Viñales crossing the line for 25 points to overtake Rossi and gain big ground over Marquez.

Home hero Zarco kept it calm under the huge pressures of the incredible home crowd to then cross the line in second behind the factory Yamaha – with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) completing the podium after an awesome slice through the field.

Pedrosa began the race in P13, was seventh after the first few laps and then pushed his way past Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) to set off after the frontrunners – closing in on Marquez before watching his teammate slide out. The number 93 pushed too hard and Pedrosa, after a magnificent win in Jerez and the drama in Le Mans, is now the man second in the title standings – only 17 off Viñales’ lead.

‘DesmoDovi’ fought off Crutchlow to take fourth from the Brit and then gain a gap, with the rider from Coventry completing the top five. Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) took a top six finish to gain an impressive ten places from his difficult grid position, with Jonas Folger (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in seventh.

Jack Miller (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) again hit his 2017 target despite a huge crash on Saturday to cross the line in the top ten in eighth, ahead of a fantastic home showing for Frenchman Loris Baz (Reale Avintia Racing) in ninth.

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the top ten after a more difficult race but took good points, with Tito Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in P11 ahead of both Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines in the points once again. Pol Espargaro bested the second ‘Bull’ of Bradley Smith by only half a second over the line, with the double points finish the perfect finish to a French GP that also saw the Austrian factory move through to Q2 for the first time with both riders.

Sam Lowes (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) took his first points in P14, with Alex Rins’ injury replacement Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) scoring a point in fifteenth as the 2014 WorldSBK Champion had a solid ride back in MotoGP™.

HJC HELMETS GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE

MotoGP Race Classification 2017

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	161.6	43’29.793
2	20	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	161.4	+3.134
3	16	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	161.1	+7.717
4	13	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	160.9	+11.223
5	11	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	160.8	+13.519
6	10	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	160.1	+24.002
7	9	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	160.0	+25.733
8	8	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	159.6	+32.603
9	7	76	Loris BAZ	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	158.8	+45.784
10	6	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	158.7	+48.332
11	5	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	158.5	+50.036
12	4	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	158.4	+52.661
13	3	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	158.4	+53.179
14	2	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	158.2	+55.432
15	1	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	157.6	+1’06.878
Not Classified
		46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	161.6	1 Lap
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	159.8	5 Laps
		93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	160.9	11 Laps
		9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	159.7	11 Laps
		45	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	149.1	21 Laps
		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	151.4	23 Laps
		8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	153.6	25 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati		0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing 2017

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	85
2	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	68
3	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	62
4	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	58
5	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	55
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	54
7	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	40
8	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	38
9	Jonas FOLGER	Yamaha	GER	38
10	Jack MILLER	Honda	AUS	29
11	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	26
12	Scott REDDING	Ducati	GBR	26
13	Loris BAZ	Ducati	FRA	19
14	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	17
15	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	15
16	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	14
17	Tito RABAT	Honda	SPA	13
18	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	12
19	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	9
20	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	7
21	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	6
22	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	6
23	Sam LOWES	Aprilia	GBR	2
24	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA	1
25	Takuya TSUDA	Suzuki	JPN

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

MotoGP™ – Showdown at Le Mans: Viñales vs Rossi in the #FrenchGP

05-johann-zarco-fra-25-maverick-vinales-esp-26-dani-pedrosa-esplg5_1927.jpg_0_0.big

HJC HELMETS GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE

MotoGP World Standing 2017

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