Lorenzo dominates as Marquez, Dovizioso crash

Jorge Lorenzo dominated the French Grand Prix while an extraordinary crash for Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso headlined a race of attrition.

Lorenzo and a distant Valentino Rossi completed a one-two for the factory Yamaha squad, while Maverick Viñales secured his maiden MotoGP podium and Suzuki’s first since 2008.

Polesitter Lorenzo made an excellent start and gradually broke away from a determined Ducati pairing of Andrea Iannone and Dovizioso.

The defending world champion’s afternoon was made easier when Iannone became the first high-profile casualty just a lap after passing his team-mate for second.

Rossi clawed his way from seventh at the end of the opening lap to run second at the halfway mark after passing Marquez and Dovizioso on consecutive laps.

Marquez and Dovizioso then produced a bizarre moment when the pair crashed out in identical separate incidents at the Musee Corner on Lap 15 of 28.

With Lorenzo metronomically reeling out 1:33s laps for the bulk of the race, Rossi was left to simply cruise home for a healthy dose of championship points.

Lorenzo’s victory has opened up a five point lead over Marquez in the championship standings.

“I wanted to keep the high pace and not lose concentration,” explained Lorenzo, who won by more than 10 seconds.

“I knew I could win the race but obviously if Marquez finished second then I just recover five points but now I recover more than 20 so it’s a great race for the championship.”

Viñales, starting from eighth, dropped to ninth at the start before eventually passing team-mate Aleix Espargaro for fifth on Lap 8 before he inherited third.

Dani Pedrosa’s fourth place was the highest finishing Honda, while his team-mate Marquez was classified one lap down and last of only 13 finishers.

Pol Espargaro shook off brother Aleix to complete the top five as Danilo Petrucci held off Hector Barbera for a highly commendable seventh in his first race since an injury in pre-season testing at Phillip Island.

Alvaro Bautista was a season-best ninth while Stefan Bradl claimed a third top ten finish in four races.

Bradley Smith joined eight failures to finish with yet another crash while running 10th.

Australia’s Jack Miller ran as high as 10th before he crashed out in the latter stages.

Scott Redding was the only retirement who could blame a mechanical failure.

The championship moves to Mugello, Italy for Round 6 from May 20-22.

Result: MotoGP French Grand Prix

Championship Standings