Iannone: The pain was too much

Andrea Iannone was forced to retire from the French MotoGP, due to ongoing pain from his Jerez accident.

The Aprilia rider had missed the Spanish race due to the foot injury, also abandoning an attempted return at the post-race test.

Although passed fit for Le Mans, the Italian found the pain got worse as the weekend went on.

After gaining six positions from his last-place start, Iannone withdrew on the ninth lap, the team making clear that fitness for their important home round next time at Mugello was a priority.

"Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the race. The pain in my ankle just got to be too much. The situation got worse day by day and, also thinking of the next race in Mugello, we decided to contain the damage," Iannone said.

"We will continue working on recovery now, trying to rest the ankle and changing the training programme in order to still stay fit. I have always achieved good results at Mugello in my career, so I want to be at 100% when we get there."

Team-mate Aleix Espargaro took the remaining RS-GP to a distant twelfth place.

"Taking points home is always positive, but I cannot be satisfied," said the Spaniard, almost 30-seconds from race winner Marc Marquez. "I was unable to follow the leaders, especially because of the lack of grip that is so important on a track with these characteristics.

"There was really only one possible tyre choice with these low temperatures. In fact, we were all in the same conditions. Now we need to work hard to make progress. Our rivals have improved and it is getting harder and harder to finish in the top ten."

Aprilia has now slipped five points behind closest rival KTM in the constructors' championship.