Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was the protagonist of the first bout of drama in the French GP, as the reigning Champion slid out of podium contention to register his second DNF of the year. Lowsiding out and initially trying to rejoin, the five-time World Champion was then left to watch the remaining laps from the sidelines – looking to bounce back at Mugello.
Marc Marquez, DNF: "It's not the best way. Today I was really focused to try and finish the race. I know my pace and I was going to stay there the whole race. The Yamaha riders were really strong today and my goal was to fight for fourth or fifth place and try to be competitive until the end. I was careful but in that corner for some reason I lost the front so quick and I'm unhappy of course because I didn't expect it, but a positive is we're not very very far - only 27 points off Viñales, and 10 points behind Pedrosa. So I hope now with the new tyres I have more confidence in the front because this year I've had a lot of crashes because I don't have feedback from the front tyre. I need to be patient. I'm riding on the limit, and when you have everything fine, you're faster and safer - but on the limit when you push you're slower and you take more risk. We're trying to work hard and we have the test in Montmelo to try and understand the new tyres."