A dejected John McPhee saw his FrenchGP brought to an early end after Jeremy Alcoba fell at turn ten with just four laps to go, swiping out the Scot’s Petronas machine and preventing his planned late-race assault on the podium.

Despite qualifying in third position, McPhee’s launch from the front  row didn’t go as expected and the 26-year-old found himself down in 11th at the end of the opening lap.

Choosing to bide his time until the tyres were warm, he stayed in contention of the leading pack by circulating 10th at the halfway point.

Looking to join the podium fight in the closing stages, McPhee’s pace and position was improving when, unfortunately, Alcoba crashed in front of him. With nowhere to go, McPhee’s race and potentially his championship hopes came to an early end with the Scot now sitting fifth, 37 points behind Albert Arenas in the standings.

“Today has been a tough day for me and it wasn’t the outcome we were looking for," said McPhee.

“We’ve shown good speed and had good rhythm all weekend, which I struggled to show in the race. It wasn’t a very good start from me, but I was confident that I could make my way forward again.

"However, I realised early on that we were missing some straight-line speed, I don’t know why, and it made trying to pass the other riders very difficult.

“I knew the areas where I could be strong, so I wanted to wait for the last laps to attack because I didn’t have the speed to overtake riders one-by-one. Unfortunately a rider crashed in front of me and I was caught up in it.

“We’ve dropped some positions in the championship, but we’re fast every weekend so we’ll look for a better result in Aragón.”