BBC Sportmotorsport

Result after 28 laps:

1 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha

2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Fiat Yamaha

3 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha

4 D Pedrosa (Sp) Repsol Honda

5 C Vermeulen (Aus) Rizla Suzuki

6 A Dovizioso (It) Honda

7 L Capirossi (It) Suzuki

8 N Hayden (US) Repsol Honda

By Julian Shea

606: DEBATE Discuss the French MotoGP here

Send us your views, comment and opinions on the French MotoGP - text us on 81111 or use 606. (Not all contributions can be used)

"It's a long time since I won two races in a row - this shows we're back in business."
New world championship leader Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi does a celebratory lap of honour riding with Angelo Nieto, the man whose 90 race victories he has just equalled.

"Was Rossi born on a bike?"
BB9989, via 606

Lap 28: Valentino Rossi strolls to his 90th career victory, with Jorge Lorenzo wheelying over the line for a remarkable second place finish, and Colin Edwards in third.

Lap 26: With things pretty much sorted out at the front - famous last words - the real battle is between championship leader Dani Pedrosa and Colin Edwards for third place, with the American holding on to his podium place despite the Spaniard's best efforts.

"Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish are the best commentary duo in racing history! They have me in stitches each week!"
Edward in Derby, via text

Lap 24: Casey Stoner is in 16th place now, riding round a dry track on wet weather tyres. In the unlikely event of a sudden cloudburst, though, he could have the last laugh. But it's unlikely.

Lap 23: Casey Stoner needs a push to get his bike back to the garage but returns to the track on his other bike, which is permitted under the wet weather rules.

Valentino Rossi is 10 seconds ahead now, by the way.

Lap 20: What on earth is happening here? Jorge Lorenzo, who turned up to the pits on a moped carrying crutches yesterday, has somehow thurst himself into second place - yes you did read that right.

Marco Melandri, who is having another stinker of a day, takes the gamble of changing to wet tyres. Well why not? And something has gone horribly wrong for Casey Stoner, he loses power quite dramatically and limps out of the race back to the garage.

Lap 18: Valentino Rossi is a country mile ahead of Dani Pedrosa now. Bizarrely, some of the track still has a heat haze on it, but rain is visibly falling elsewhere. Will there be a twist in the tail here?

Lap 17: Bad luck for John Hopkins - his race is over from eighth place after his chain snaps and flies across the track, right into the path of former Kawasaki rider Loris Capirossi.

Lap 15: White flags are waving, which means riders can come in and change to wet tyres if they want - but are the conditions going to get bad enough to make that gamble worth taking?

Lap 14: Somehow, Jorge Lorenzo has dragged himself up to fifth place, past and Chris Vermeulen. But the Australian will take heart from reports of spots of rain - he loves wet conditions.

Lap 11: Rossi's lead over Pedrosa is 2.84 seconds. Pit lane mutterings are that James Toseland was taken out by Andrea Dovizioso. More to follow on that.

Lap 10: Dani Pedrosa goes past Casey Stoner into second, with Colin Edwards almost taking the Australian by surprise and pushing him back to fourth - but Stoner just holds on to third spot.

Lap 9: Valentino Rossi's lead over Casey Stoner is up to 0.705 seconds, with Dani Pedrosa sitting on Stoner's shoulder keen to take third place.

Lap 7: No mistake this time - Rossi goes round the outside of Stoner into the lead and makes it count this time, getting clear grey tarmac between himself and Stoner.

Somehow, the battered and bruised Jorge Lorenzo is in sixth place. Nicky Hayden got off to a good start, so to see someone as badly injured as Lorenzo going past him must be hard to take.

Lap 6: Rossi goes inside Stoner to sniff the lead for just a couple of seconds but no sooner are the fans on their feet than the Australian nips back inside the Italian and forces Rossi onto the whitewash.

Lap 5: Rossi is right on Stoner's tail - this is going to be a real dogfight as Rossi goes for his 90th victory.

Lap 3:High drama - Valentino Rossi sets the fastest lap of the day, in 1:35.20, and then powers past Dani Pedrosa into second spot. Off camera, James Toseland's day comes to an early end as his bike ends up in the gravel. Not sure what happened there, but that will be a huge disappointment for the French Tech 3 team.

Lap 1: Great start from Colin Edwards, but Casey Stoner flies into the early lead, with James Toseland battling through to fifth from seventh. Impressive. Another shocker for Marco Melandri, though, who stalled on the grid.

1258: Confusing weather conditions at Le Mans - it rained during the 125cc and 250cc races, and although there is plenty of blue sky and sunshine at the moment, the clouds are not far away, so the weather could well play a significant part in the outcome of today's race.

1230: So here we go again. Four different winners from four races, so what are the chances of it being five out of five?

Colin Edwards has never managed a win in MotoGP but he looked in fine form yesterday, being on course for a second consecutive pole position until he was pipped at the post by Dani Pedrosa, the Spaniard's first pole of the season.

World champion Casey Stoner is third, ahead of Valentino Rossi, who will go level with Angel Nieto as the second most successful rider of all time in all categories on 90 wins if he can win his second race in a row.

And Jorge Lorenzo's youthful enthusiasm seems to be working as an anaesthetic against what must be huge pain in his two fractured ankles.

And talking of youthful enthusiasm, a huge round of applause please for Bradley Smith, who came second in the 125cc race earlier on. He's taken a bit of stick on 606 this week - what better way to send it back with interest than a career-best finish?