Rossi startade från pole, fick en lysande start och gick ledande ur den första svängen inför 80.000 jublande fans.
Rossi höll sin ledning länge men på det tolfte varvet lyckades teamkollegan Lorenzo ta sig förbi sedan Rossi fått problem med greppet under acceleration.
Slutligen gick Lorenzo i mål 5,672 sekunder före Rossi. Lorenzo leder nu MotoGP med sina 70 poäng, Rossi har 61. I märkesmästerskapet leder Yamaha följaktligen stort.
Jorge Lorenzo 44’29.114
”I am so happy to win for the second race in a row, it’s the first time for me in MotoGP and it makes me feel very confident in myself. Finally I did a good start, which I’m really happy about, then I easily got past Pedrosa. Passing Valentino wasn’t so easy because he was braking so deep and I had to be very patient, something that I might not have managed one year ago!
Finally I overtook him but I didn’t expect to be able to go away in that way, my bike and Bridgestone tyres just felt so good and it wasn’t difficult for me to keep this pace up. I have had a good time in Le Mans since I joined Yamaha; one second and two victories, so I think I can say I enjoy racing here in France! It is fantastic to be leading the championship but there is a long way to go and now we go to Mugello, a track that I love but where my rivals are very strong. Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha for this great weekend.”
Valentino Rossi +5.672
”I got a very good start but I knew from the beginning that we lacked some pace compared to Lorenzo and we had some unexpected problems in the race, mainly to do with grip on exit and acceleration from the corners.
I expected to be faster but it wasn’t the case today. I tried to stay in front of Lorenzo but it wasn’t possible and I couldn’t go with him once he was past, congratulations to him because he was very strong today! I can’t blame my shoulder, I had expected it to be a bigger problem but in fact it was okay until six or seven laps from the end and by then the race was over for me. I knew it was important to finish and take the 20 points, it’s a long championship and we are only nine points behind. Now I am looking forward to being back on top form for Mugello, my home race.”
MotoGP Le Mans 23/05/2010
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 44’29.114
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’05.672
3 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0’07.872
4 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 0’09.346
5 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0’12.613
6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0’21.918
7 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 0’29.288
8 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 0’33.128
9 Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 0’33.493
10 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 0’33.805
11 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 0’34.346
12 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0’37.123
13 Mika Kallio Ducati FIN 0’55.061
Banans längd: 4180 meter
Temperatur: +32 grader
Varvrekord: 1’33.678 (Valentino Rossi, 01/01/2005)
Snabbaste varv någonsin: 1’32.647 (Daniel Pedrosa, 18/05/2008)
Förra årets vinnare: Jorge Lorenzo
MotoGP ställning 23/05/2010
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 70
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 61
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 42
4. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 40
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 39
6. Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 26
7. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 21
8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 16
9. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 16
10. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 15
11. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 13
12. Mika Kallio Ducati FIN 12
13. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 11
14. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 11
15. Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 8
Märkesmästerskap 23/05/2010
1. Yamaha 75
2. Honda 52
3. Ducati 39
4. Suzuki 13