The Spaniard has his team to thank for his easy win at Le Mans, as it was his strategy that proved unmatched during the Sunday action. Due to the weather conditions in France, the organizers decided to declare the race wet, with all riders setting their bikes for rainy conditions.
Lorenzo chose to pit for new tires later than his opponents, focusing on increasing his lead up front. When being informed that his rivals were beginning to close the gap on him, he went to the pits, rejoining the track still in 1st place.
The Spaniard went on to win the race some 17 seconds ahead of a surprising Marco Melandri (Kawasaki Hayate), while Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had to settle for 3rd place. Andrea Dovizioso and title contender Casey Stoner (Ducati) went on to complete the Top 5.
That leaves us with one question. Where was Valentino Rossi? As it was clear this wasn’t one of his favorite tracks (neither were the weather conditions), the Italian rider had to pay tribute to an early crash – after the first pit stop – and some mechanical errors to eventually finish no less than 2 laps down to his teammate.
Rossi had to pit no less than 4 times on Sunday – one of which was a ride-through because he hadn’t switch on the speed limiter – and was the last rider to take his bike to the chequered flag.
In the overall classification, Lorenzo is now one point clear of teammate Rossi and 2007 champion Casey Stoner. The following stop for the MotoGP caravan is one of Rossi’s favorites, the Mugello circuit, hosting this year’s Gran Premio d’Italia Alice.
Google News