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Le Mans MotoGP: Vinales wins as Rossi crashes on final lap

Maverick Vinales took victory in the French GP at Le Mans after a thrilling duel with Yamaha MotoGP teammate Valentino Rossi ended with the Italian rider crashing on the final lap of the race.

Podium: winner Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, second place Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, third place Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Podium: winner Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, second place Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, third place Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 takes second place
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing takes the win
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Winner Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing, second place Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Third place Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

What had been a three-way race for honours between the two factory Yamaha riders and the Tech 3 bike of Johann Zarco had boiled down to a straight fight between Vinales and Rossi in the closing stages.

It was home hero Zarco, running soft tyres front and rear, that led the opening stages after a great start from third on the grid, with Vinales slotting into second place ahead of Rossi.

But Zarco was unable to pull away from the factory Yamahas, both running medium tyres all round, and on lap 7 the Frenchman was passed by Vinales at the Dunlop chicane.

From there, Vinales maintained a small advantage over Zarco and Rossi, with the satellite rider holding on to second until Rossi made his move at the Dunlop chicane on the 23rd lap of 28.

The Italian's charge continued as he reeled in Vinales and passed him at the same location three laps later.

It seemed Rossi had done enough to seal his first MotoGP win of the season, especially as Vinales cut the track trying to keep up with the 38-year-old on the penultimate tour.

But Rossi ran wide on the very last lap at Garage Vert, allowing Vinales through into the lead, before the seven-time premier class champion lost the front end at Turn 11 and crashed out.

That meant Vinales took his third win of the year and the lead of the standings to go with it, with Zarco recording the first podium of his top-class career in second place three seconds behind.

Pedrosa goes from 13th to third

From a lowly 13th on the grid, Dani Pedrosa took the final podium spot for Honda, as his teammate Marc Marquez crashed out of fourth place at the Dunlop chicane on lap 18.

Jerez winner Pedrosa climbed up to seventh in the early stages before passing Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and muscling his way by LCR rider Cal Crutchlow to take fifth - which became third when Marquez and Rossi crashed.

As a result, Pedrosa now moves up to second in the points on 68, 17 behind Vinales and six ahead of Rossi, who slips from first to third.

Dovizioso held on from Crutchlow to take fourth, while Jorge Lorenzo on the second factory Ducati moved up from eighth to sixth thanks to the late crashes - 10 places up on his grid slot.

Zarco's Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger, Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda), Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati) and Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) completed the top 10, all helped by Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia suffering engine failure while running eighth in the latter stages.

After both reaching Q2, KTM riders Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith benefitted from the attrition to finish 12th and 13th behind the second Marc VDS Honda of Tito Rabat.

Sam Lowes also scored his first points as a MotoGP rider in 14th for Aprilia, ahead of Alex Rins' Suzuki stand-in Sylvain Guintoli, who completed the scorers in 15th.

Race results:

Pos.#DriverBikeTime/Gap
1 25 spain Maverick Viñales  Yamaha 43'29.793
2 5 france Johann Zarco  Yamaha 3.134
3 26 spain Dani Pedrosa  Honda 7.717
4 4 italy Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati 11.223
5 35 united_kingdom Cal Crutchlow  Honda 13.519
6 99 spain Jorge Lorenzo  Ducati 24.002
7 94 germany Jonas Folger  Yamaha 25.733
8 43 australia Jack Miller  Honda 32.603
9 76 france Loris Baz  Ducati 45.784
10 29 italy Andrea Iannone  Suzuki 48.332
11 53 spain Tito Rabat  Honda 50.036
12 44 spain Pol Espargaro  KTM 52.661
13 38 united_kingdom Bradley Smith  KTM 53.179
14 22 united_kingdom Sam Lowes  Aprilia 55.432
15 50 france Sylvain Guintoli  Suzuki 1'06.878
Ret 46 italy Valentino Rossi  Yamaha 1 lap
Ret  41 spain Aleix Espargaro  Aprilia 5 laps
Ret  93 spain Marc Marquez  Honda 11 laps
Ret  9 italy Danilo Petrucci  Ducati 11 laps
Ret  45 united_kingdom Scott Redding  Ducati 21 laps
Ret  17 czech_republic Karel Abraham  Ducati 23 laps
Ret  8 spain Hector Barbera  Ducati 25 laps
Ret  19 spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati  

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