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General

Le Mans MotoGP race

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Crash
Zarco's down!
Hello, Danilo, hello, Valentino. The three-bike leading group is now a slightly more spread out five-bike leading group.
Zarco retakes the spot down the inside at Turn 3.
Marquez has picked off Zarco for second, allowing Lorenzo some breathing room out front.
Scott Redding will pick up a 1.9s track limits penalty at the end of the race. Doesn't look like it'll make much of a difference, as he runs 17th.
Petrucci, Rossi and Miller are now edging closer to that leading group. Zarco and Marquez might soon get impatient here.
That's a humongous blow to Andrea Dovizioso's title hopes. A three-bike lead group is reinstated now, and it's Lorenzo - Zarco - Marquez.
Crash
And then he's down at Turn 6 from the lead!
He's not messing around! Dovizioso slides past Lorenzo at Turn 3...
Dovizioso looking increasingly eager behind his teammate now. We've seen this before somewhere, no?
Marquez is reeling in the leading trio now, as it seems Lorenzo is holding up Dovizioso and Zarco.
Vinales is running 13th now, a spot ahead of Crutchlow. He was briefly in the top 10 after a poor start, but something looks to have gone wrong on this lap.
Information
Current top 10: 1 Lorenzo; 2 Dovizioso; 3 Zarco; 4 Marquez; 5 Petrucci; 6 Rossi; 7 Miller; 8 Pedrosa; 9 Rins; 10 A Espargaro.
Zarco runs wide at the Turn 6 right-hander and Dovizioso is through to second place.
The top three is breaking away, made up of Lorenzo, Zarco and Dovizioso.
Crash
Bautista has crashed out at Turn 6, Rabat down as well.
Zarco's with Lorenzo already, it looks a matter of time.
Zarco's aggressive move for second place has left Marquez down in fifth, and the reigning champion is now having to fend off Rossi.
Lorenzo has already managed to put some daylight between him and the rest of the pack, but Zarco is reeling him in.
Crash
Iannone down.
Jorge Lorenzo to the lead from the second row, Zarco has had a slow start but makes an aggressive move to retake second into Turn 2.
Lights green
The race is underway!
Information
Tyre selections for the top 10:
Zarco (Medium-Soft)
Marquez (Medium-Hard)
Petrucci (Soft-Soft)
Iannone (Medium-Soft)
Dovizioso (Medium-Soft)
Lorenzo (Soft-Soft)
Miller (Soft-Soft)
Vinales (Soft-Soft)
Rossi (Medium-Soft)
Pedrosa (Medium-Soft)
The track temperature clocks in at 34 degrees, which is somewhat cooler than during qualifying on Saturday.

That's a good bit of news for the works Yamahas, but it might still not be cool enough for Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales to be as competitive as they would've hoped heading into the weekend.
Information
The grid: 1 Zarco; 2 Marquez; 3 Petrucci; 4 Iannone; 5 Dovizioso; 6 Lorenzo; 7 Miller; 8 Vinales; 9 Rossi; 10 Pedrosa; 11 Rabat; 12 A Espargaro; 13 Crutchlow; 14 Syahrin; 15 Rins; 16 Morbidelli; 17 Smith; 18 P Espargaro; 19 Nakagami; 20 Bautista; 21 Luthi; 22 Redding; 23 Simeon; 24 Abraham.
Ducati's chief hopes for a first-ever Le Mans win will lie with Andrea Dovizioso, but Pramac's Danilo Petrucci – lining up third – looks like he could be a factor, too.

Ducati's chief hopes for a first-ever Le Mans win will lie with Andrea Dovizioso, but Pramac's Danilo Petrucci – lining up third – looks like he could be a factor, too.

Information
There were two very contrasting races in the lower grand prix racing classes earlier today.

In Moto3, title contenders Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin put on a scintillating race-long duel, and were then both passed by Fabio Di Giannantonio on the final lap before both ending up on the floor.

A jubilant Di Giannantonio got to enjoy the win for the whole cooldown lap, only to be informed of a track limits penalty as he arrived into parc ferme. Albert Arenas - a rider who had scored just one point in the first four races of the season - was declared winner instead.

In Moto2, meanwhile, nothing was much out of the ordinary as championship leader Pecco Bagnaia – Pramac's 2019 MotoGP signing – saw off Alex Marquez for a straightforward win.
A bit of a throwback weekend for Honda, in that it suddenly does not look all that competitive but is being bailed out by Marc Marquez.

A bit of a throwback weekend for Honda, in that it suddenly does not look all that competitive but is being bailed out by Marc Marquez.

As the build-up to the race continues, check out our race pace analysis from earlier in the weekend, offering a look at which riders and teams are most likely to spoil Zarco's party:

Analysis: Why Le Mans is Zarco's best chance yet to win

Johann Zarco was the star in qualifying on home turf at Le Mans, and on the evidence of his race pace the Frenchman also has a very good chance to take a long-awaited maiden victory in MotoGP.

Analysis: Why Le Mans is Zarco's best chance yet to win
Johann Zarco will start from pole position for the fourth time in his premier-class career, and will be lining up on the front row for the ninth consecutive pole. His qualifying heroics are nothing new, but that first race win remains elusive.

His previous pole positions haven't yielded a finish better than eighth place. If he stays on the bike, he'll almost certainly better that today, and his pace suggests this is a prime opportunity to finally stand on the top step – but it's just never that simple, is it?
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of MotoGP's French Grand Prix at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit.

By: Matt Beer

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