Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi endured a nightmare race today in the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.
Having enjoyed a dry track for both practice and qualifying the riders had to contend with full wet conditions to start today‰Ûªs race. Lorenzo started from second on the grid and was able to hold behind race leader Andrea Dovizioso initially until passed by Dani Pedrosa with 26 laps to go.
As the laps wound down the reigning World Champion gradually dropped position, fighting a wet but slowly drying track with a less than optimum set up. Lorenzo eventually crossed the line in seventh place to claim nine Championship points that keep him in third position in the overall standings.
‰ÛÏIn the beginning of the race the bike was not the same as warm up but not so bad and I could follow Andrea and Dani." Lorenzo stated. "I was losing a lot in some areas of the track but recovering in others.
"Then after three or four laps the bike got worse and I got problems everywhere. In the braking because in the middle of the corner I didn't trust the rear tyre and in acceleration because the rear was spinning so much I lost nearly half a second compared to the others.
"Races are like this sometimes; last year I won by 20 seconds with a very good bike and this year was completely the opposite. I couldn't do much more without crashing.‰Û
