Moto2 Le Mans: Marquez breaks away for dominant win

Alex Marquez took the first win for him and his EG 0,0 Marc VDS team since Motegi 2017 in style after dominating from the front at the historic Le Mans track to seal victory in the Moto2 French Grand Prix.

The Kalex rider was given an advantage when, after being pressurised by Simone Corsi in the opening stages the veteran slipped out of contention, his soft rear tyre gamble not paying off.

Marquez then did an excellent job of maintaining the gap to ease over the line clear by 1.119s, though he was regularly over two seconds ahead of the chasing pair of Jorge Navarro and Augusto Fernandez.

The duo replicated their result from Jerez after a race long tussle for second, with pole-sitter Navarro able to put in a strong move up the inside of his race rival in the closing stages and then hold firm aboard his Speed Up, with Fernandez completing the all Spanish podium for the Pons Flexbox HP40 team.

Four seconds adrift, it was Brad Binder who saw the finish line next, the top KTM finisher with the Red Bull Ajo Team.

He battled past Xavi Vierge, who was forced to settle for fifth on the second Marc VDS entry.

Tom Luthi (Dynavolt IntactGP) had been the early race leader before he faded to sixth, he crossed the line just ahead of top rookie Enea Bastianini (Italtrans) in seventh.

Marcel Schrotter, who is carrying injury and using crutches to get around the pits, raced through the pain barrier to claim eighth on the second Dynavolt entry.

Iker Lecuona (American Racing Team KTM) had enough in the tank for ninth while Nicolo Bulega (Sky Rcaing Team VR46) had an eventful run on his way to a top ten finish - the Italian somehow survived running wide while in eighth - he ran straight through the gravel for an age between turn one and two but stayed on and came out tenth where he held firm.

Tetsuta Nagashima was eleventh for the SAG Team, but was clear of the second Speed Up piloted by Fabio Di Giannantonio in twelfth.

The remaining points went to Luca Marini (Sky Racing VR46), who overcame his poor qualifying for 13th, Joe Roberts (American Racing Team KTM), taking his first points of the season in 14th as did Stefano Manzi in 15th on the MV Augusta.

Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) faded after a good qualifying performance but picked up places late in the race for 17th.

Jorge Martin was handed a jump start penalty which ended his hopes - he finished 20th and last.

Andrea Locatelli got off to the wrong kind of flying start when he was launched off of his highsiding Italtrans bike at turn three on the first lap.

Championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri also suffered an early exit, keeping his unwanted record of never having scored a point in Le Mans. The Italian initially seemed to be unconscious following his fall, but was moving by the time he left the track on a stretcher. He was later diagnosed with concussion and a right shoulder dislocation.

He collected the unfortunate Mattia Pasini, who was replacing the injured Khairul Idham Pawi this weekend.

Sam Lowes ended his awful weekend in France with another trip into the gravel with seventeen laps to go.

Somikat Chantra lasted only one corner further then Lowes, while Steven Odendaal and Remy Gardner both left the race on the same lap in separate incidents with twelve laps left to run.

Bo Bendsneyder retired to the pits shortly after, while Xavi Cardelus and Dimas Ekky Pratama fell in the closing stages. Dominique Aegerter was on for a points finish before his bike ran out of fuel on the final lap.