Valentino Rossi ended the FrenchGP 11th at Le Mans, after contact with Pol Espargaro and his Petronas teammate saw him drop from seventh, in the first flag-to-flag race since Brno 2017.

A good start from ninth on the grid saw Rossi gain two positions on the opening lap as he battled with Franky Morbidelli, before he was forced to take avoiding action at turn 11, running off track and dropping to 13th in the process.

“At the end of the first lap I think, Pol took a big moment, a big slide, so I overtook him but after he wanted to come back inside of me, into turn 11. I already touch with Pol, but in that moment arrive also Franco, that touch Pol, Pol then put me out of the track, and from P7, I go to P13 and I lose a lot of time” the Italian explained.

With heavy rain starting to fall, the Petronas rider came into the pits to swap to his wet setup bike at the end of lap five, rejoining the race in 12th. Running at a good pace ‘The Doctor’ had moved himself up to ninth by mid race distance but as the track dried once more, he was unable to maintain his position, ultimately crossing the line 11th.

His second points scoring finish of the opening five races brings his tally to nine, with Rossi now siting 19th in the world championship standings.

“The mixed conditions for us today was a big shame” Rossi admitted. “I was stronger in the wet - this morning was a good warm up, I was a fast in the full wet. My pace was not so bad on the dry, so I could do a good race but in the mixed, when it’s half and half, is where we suffer quite a lot. At the end is a shame, we can do a bit better. We could also have started with the medium rain tyre instead of the soft, but sincerely we expected the rain a lot later.

“So it was like this, the result is nothing special, but it remain anyway a better weekend, where we improve, where we confirm the improvements from the test in Jerez. I was not too bad, I can fight to stay in the top-10 but at the end, the race was like this.

“Personally I don’t like the flag-to-flag races, especially because they are more dangerous. More than the stress, it’s difficult, it is more dangerous, sometimes we have to go with the slick tyre on the wet, or the opposite. I prefer the longer 45-minutes races, because you can take your rhythm, you can do your strategy, here is more tricky. The race was confusing and difficult, but it is Le Mans and has been like this since Friday. Maybe I could have done better with the medium tyres, but it’s easy to say this after the race.

“At this moment, I think that this year the Ducati is very, very strong, especially the factory one, also because they have two riders, Jack Miller and Pecco, who are in great shape. Also Yamaha is strong, Maverick and especially Quartararo are very fast, but also Suzuki is very, very fast in all the races. The problem is that they are unlucky, they don’t take points, but they are not so bad. Is difficult to say what will happen in the next races because in MotoGP everything change very quick.

“I’m looking forward to being in Mugello next, although it is a shame that there will be no fans because they are always great there.”