MOTOGP: Title fight reset after Le Mans race

MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo believes the 2016 title fight has effectively been reset by his French Grand Prix victory and Marc Marquez's crash.

The Yamaha rider clinched his second win of the season at Le Mans and assumed a five-point lead after erstwhile championship leader Marquez finished 13th after crashing. After Lorenzo and team-mate Valentino Rossi fell in Argentina and America respectively, Honda's Marquez held a 21-point lead heading to the first European race at Jerez last month.

With all three riders on the board as race winners but also having crashed out once, Lorenzo believes the first five races have evened out.

"[The] perfect day. Especially for the championship," Lorenzo said after taking his fifth victory at Le Mans. "Before this race, Marquez didn't make any mistake, the opposite of the Yamaha riders with myself in Argentina and Rossi in Austin.

"So we start from zero in the next race. Leading the championship with this five points advantage, now comes Mugello, a track I love and my favourite track.

"The Ducatis will be strong with the long straight, and it's a track they spend more days testing. But they [Ducati] don't count for the championship with the mistakes from both riders, so we need to count our level with Marc and Rossi. It's great we're coming there leading the championship."

Marquez headed to Le Mans with a 17-point advantage over Lorenzo and 24 clear of Rossi, but shortly after Rossi passed the Spaniard and Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso to move into second place, the pair fell separately but simultaneously at Turn 7.

"I know that in Jerez [it] was really difficult to finish the race there, but if you want to win the championship, you need to manage the race but try to push. Valentino passed me and I didn't try to overtake him again because I know where was my position, but it was not possible to finish the race in a good way.

"It's true that we tried, but the important thing is that we are only five points behind Jorge. We know that looks like both the Yamaha riders are stronger than us but we will try and let's see how we can manage it."

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

Originally on Autosport.com