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Pedrosa wins, Marquez the hero

All eyes were on young Honda rider Marc Marquez when the 2013 Le Mans MotoGP lights changed and the 20-year-old led off the grid.

Was the young Lewis Hamilton (who was at the track on Sunday) equivalent of the MotoGP circus going to go from pole to win on the wet track in north-west France? Dry weather had been forecast but heavy overnight rain left the famous track wet.

The youngster was down in 12th with 20 laps to go but a number of incidents and retirements - along with some very fast riding - had him up to fifth with seven laps to go as the track was drying out but the bikes were still running on 'wet' rubber.

BETTER LAP TIMES

Six to go and Marquez was fourth behind Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) with Dani Pedrosa (Honda) leading and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) second but his lap times were looking better than the rest.

With four to go it was Pedrosa, Crutchlow, Dovizioso and Marquez with Marquez 2.6sec behind Dovizioso.

It seemed an impossible task and Dovizioso's pit crew were signing him on: "Faster!"

The entire track race line was now dry and Pedrosa was away in the distance, the battle now between two and four - and  with two to go Marquez swept past Dovizioso in a move that marks him as, in future, unbeatable.

It was way too far to catch Pedrosa - only a fall could do that.

At the end it was Pedrosa, Crutchlow - his best-yet place in a MotoGP - an amazing third by Marquez, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden (Ducati).

Results from the 2013 French Motorcycle GP at Le Mans
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 49min17.707
2 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 49min22.570
3 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 49min24.656
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 49min27.794
5 Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 49min36.178
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 49min41.268
7 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 49min45.668
8 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati 49min58.482
9 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 49min59.114
10 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 50min18.702
11 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 50min22.817
12 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 50min34.075
13 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 50min41.907
14 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda 50min43.433
15 Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Aprilia 50min49.818



Results from the 2013 Le Mans Motorcycle GP Moto2
1 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex 36min43.583
2 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 36min44.673
3 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex 36min44.817
4 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter 36min45.284
5 Johann Zarco (France) Suter 36min45.442
6 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Speed up 36min55.855
7 Mike Di Meglio (France) Motobi 36min55.961
8 Julian Simon (Spain) Kalex 37min13.295
9 Anthony West (Australia) Speed up 37min14.062
10 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Speed up 37min14.818
11 Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) Suter 37min15.118
12 Simone Corsi (Italy) Speed up 37min15.258
13 Sandro Cortese (Germany) Kalex 37min15.500
14 Marcel Schroetter (Germany) Kalex 37min19.361
15 Louis Rossi (France) Tech 3 37min28.628

Standings after the 2013 Motorcycle GP
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 83
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 77
3 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 66
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 55
5 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 47
6 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 39
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 38
8 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati - 35
9 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia - 20
10 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 18
11 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda - 17
12 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 17
13 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati - 13
14 Ben Spies (US) Ducati - 9
15 Hector Barbera (Spain) FTR - 7

Standings after the 2013 Le Mans Moto 2
1 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex - 76
2 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Pons Kalex - 52
3 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex - 47
4 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter - 47
5 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Pons Kalex - 41
6 Nicolas Terol (Spain) Suter - 38
7 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex - 35
8 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex - 29
9 Johann Zarco (France) Suter - 28
10 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Speed up - 22
11 Anthony West (Australia) Speed up - 20
12 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Speed up - 18
13 Julian Simon (Spain) Kalex - 18
14 Jordi Torres (Spain) Suter - 16
15. Simone Corsi (Italy) Speed up - 15

Result from the 2013 Le Mans Motorcycle GP Moto3
1 Maverick Vinales (Spain) KTM 42min05.448
2 Alex Rins (Spain) KTM 42min06.712
3 Luis Salom (Spain) KTM 42min06.835
4 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex 42min20.041
5 Alex Marquez (Spain) KTM 42min43.397
6 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) Kalex 42min45.743
7 Romano Fenati (Italy) FTR 42min48.773
8 Brad Binder (South Africa) Suter 42min48.985
9 Alexis Masbou (France) FTR 42min50.959
10 Isaac Vinales (Spain) FTR 42min51.122
11 John McPhee (Britain) FTR 42min56.900
12 Jack Miller (Australia) FTR 42min57.040
13 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM 43min04.161
14 Alessandro Tonucci (Italy) Honda 43min04.418
15 Philipp OEttl (Germany) Kalex 43min23.475

Standings after the 2013 Motorcycle GP Moto3
1 Maverick Vinales (Spain) KTM - 90
2 Luis Salom (Spain) KTM - 77
3 Alex Rins (Spain) KTM - 61
4 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex - 53
5 Brad Binder (South Africa) Suter - 32
6 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM - 28
7 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) Kalex - 27
8 Alex Marquez (Spain) KTM - 24
9 Alexis Masbou (France) FTR - 23
10 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Mahindra - 20
11 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM - 19
12 Niklas Ajo (Finland) KTM -18
13 Romano Fenati (Italy) FTR - 17
14 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Mahindra - 16
15 Jack Miller (Australia) FTR - 14



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