Vinales wins at Le Mans but heartbreak for Rossi
SPAIN’S Maverick Vinales snatched victory in a thrilling French Grand Prix at Le Mans on Sunday after a captivating duel with Italian veteran Valentino Rossi.
Vinales surges into the lead of the MotoGP world championship at Rossi’s expense after the 38-year-old Italian slid off on the final lap as he chased the fellow Yamaha.
Local favourite Johann Zarco – also on a Yamaha, who celebrated a 500th grand prix win – was second and Spain’s Dani Pedrosa, of Honda, was third.
The 22-year-old Vinales, who lost the early lead to Zarco after starting from pole, said: “Incredible, incredible. I just gave my best. I saw Valentino make a mistake and I made a push after two disastrous races.”
Vinales and Rossi were battling for the win throughout but stepped up their breathless battle with three laps to go when Rossi grabbed the lead, sending the 100,000 crowd under the Le Mans sunshine wild.
It looked all over, but Rossi made an uncharacteristic error to allow Vinales back into the lead on the last lap, then Rossi lost control and skidded out of the race when pushing hard to get his nose back in front in the closing moments.
Rossi was left distraught afterwards as Vinales celebrated a third win from five grands prix this season to lead the standings on 85 points, with Pedrosa on 68 and Rossi still stuck on 62 in third.
Honda’s defending world champion Marc Marquez, of Spain, sits fourth after he too crashed out on a day of carnage at Le Mans.
“Until the end, in the last lap, I gave everything I had here in the French GP and, honestly, I’m so happy and so pleased,” Vinales added.
Rossi said: “It was a great shame because for my team it was the best weekend of the season, where I was more competitive on the track, also in the wet, but especially in the race.
“For sure, for me this could have been the best result of the season.”
He admitted making a “mistake” that was to prove fatal to his race.
“It is a great shame to go back home with zero points. First of all, I’m very sorry for missing out on the probable victory, and also for losing the lead in the championship because I lost points.”
Mass pile-up
Earlier, half t he Moto3 field went flying off t he track in a mass pile-up that caused the race to be stopped and resta r ted.
What appeared to be lea ked fluid on only the second lap of the race saw a succession of riders slide of f at high speed one after the other into t he gravel trap, wit h some of the racers whacked by flying bikes.
Championship leader and eventual winner Joan Mir from Spain was among those who went for a medical checkup – as stewards worked frantically to clean up the track – but none of the riders was badly hurt and all were able to return for the restart.
When the action got back underway 30 minutes later – the race was shortened to 16 laps – Honda rider Mir emerged victorious.
It was the 19-year-old’s third victory of the season and extended his lead in the championship standings.
Franco Morbidelli made it four victories from five races this season as he held off hard-charging fellow Italian Francesco Bagnaia to win the Moto2 race.
The 22-year-old Morbidelli tops the standings with 100 points, with Thomas Luthi on 80 and Alex Marquez, brother of MotoGP’s Marc and a third Kalex rider, on 62.