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MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 / MAY 15-17, 2017 BUGATTI CIRCUIT / LE MANS, FRANCE P106 sophical. "Sincerely, what hap- pened in the crash we don't understand. Usually you have to pay attention to the front, but I lost the rear. Anyway, I made a mis- take—and it's like this." His crash donated a third suc- cessive podium to Dani Pedrosa, whose Repsol Honda teammate Marc Marquez had crashed out of fourth place after half-distance. After his win at Jerez, this moved Pedrosa to second overall. The race was run in bright at exactly the point where his rival obligingly ran wide. "I knew I was strong for the rest of the lap, and I just tried my 100 percent, and closed every opening," he said. "I didn't know he had fallen, and I was prepar- ing myself for the touch in the last corners." As Rossi had promised he would do (as did Pedrosa), he dedicated his result to Nicky Hayden, still fighting for his life in intensive care in Italy. Rossi was (eventually) philo- He recovered quickly, but Vinales had slipped past and Rossi wasn't close enough to attack at the chicane. Still four corners to go, and one more chance, under braking for the last double rights. If he could get close enough. Well, cut a long story shorter, he couldn't. He tried, but Vinales was just too good. He set a new lap record on the final lap and Valentino crashed striving to close up, losing the rear at the Garage Blue Esses right-hander. It was the eighth time the lap record had been lowered, an epic finale to a great fifth round, and likely to be of crucial impor- tance to the 2017 World Champi- onship. It was only one race and only one defeat, but for Rossi, it was a big one. Vinales was characteristically calm after his third win of the year, and his third at Le Mans. His bike had been good all weekend, he said, and he had been preparing to attack Rossi sunshine after iffy weather for the previous two days and a somewhat mixed up grid: three Yamahas on the front row—Vina- les, Rossi and first-timer Zarco— most particularly mixed up was Pedrosa in 13th place. "All night long I was thinking how to make it through the first chicane; it is so tight," Pedrosa said. As Zarco took the lead at the chicane from Vinales, Pedrosa got a good run and managed to finish the first lap seventh. (Top) France's new motorsport hero, Zarco, didn't disappoint his home fans, coming away with a brilliant debut MotoGP podium. (Left) Jack Miller's face says it all. The Australian survived one of the biggest crashes in his life on Saturday to soldier on to 10th place.