Lorenzo holds off Rossi at Le Mans

Jorge Lorenzo claimed his second MotoGP race victory in succession by staying just out of reach of his rivals at Le Mans.

The Movistar Yamaha rider snatched the lead from Andrea Dovizioso at the first chicane - while world champion Marc Marquez ran wide - then kept clear of the Ducati rider and later his own team-mate Valentino Rossi.

World championship leader Rossi had made significant set-up changes for the race and spent the early stages behind Marquez in fifth. Once familiar with his M1, the Italian overtook Marquez on lap 3 of 28, before picking off the Ducatis of Andrea Iannone and Dovizioso.

That put Rossi 1.8s behind Lorenzo with half the race to run, but The Doctor was unable to make an impact on the #99's advantage.

Dovizioso initially kept in touch with Rossi before losing ground late in the race, albeit safe in the knowledge that his fourth podium of the season was in the bag,

Seven seconds behind and 19s from victory was pole sitter Marquez, whose race was filled with drama. It began when he and Iannone made contact on the sprint to the first chicane, which may have caused Marquez to subsequently run wide on the exit.

Marquez later ran wide again, briefly dropping him as low as seventh, before charging back up the order and spending the closing stages in a thrilling duel with Iannone for fourth.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa, returning from arm pump injury, fell early in the race but remounted to take the flag. Fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow went down and out after losing the front of his LCR machine. Marc VDS rider Scott Redding suffered a similar fate.

Nicky Hayden was the top Open rider in eleventh on a day when Aspar Honda team-mate Eugene Laverty took his first MotoGP points.

Rossi still holds a 15 point title lead heading into his home round at Mugello, but with Lorenzo replacing Dovizioso as his closest rival.

1.Jorge Lorenzo2.Valentino Rossi3.Andrea Dovizioso4.Marc Marquez5.Andrea Iannone6.Bradley Smith7.Pol Espargaro8.Yonny Hernandez9.Maverick Vi?ales10.Danilo Petrucci11.Nicky Hayden12.Loris Baz13.Hector Barbera14.Eugene Laverty15.Alvaro Bautista16.Dani Pedrosa17.Alex De Angelis18.Marco Melandri
Jack Miller
Karel Abraham
Cal Crutchlow
Scott Redding
Mike Di Meglio
Aleix Espargaro
Stefan Bradl