The sun had been shining for several days in France, but southern Europe was not spared the rain. The Dolomites had had their fill before the Grand Prix, and the riders had to adapt to the changing and difficult terrain.
In MXGP, championship leader Tim Gajser completed a GP double on the circuit, winning both races with his Honda HRC. The Slovenian rider was almost playing at home, with many fans having made the trip.
However, he had to battle for 13 laps with our Frenchman Romain Febvre (Kawasaki Racing Team) in the first race. The Kawasaki rider set off from the front with the holeshot, and Gajser put him under pressure until he was able to reclaim first place following a small mistake by the French rider. After that, the two of them took off a bit, but they were neutralized.
The fight between Coenen and Renaux had to be looked at from behind, and in the end it was the Belgian who took third place on the podium on behalf of KTM. Coldenhoff on Fantic rounded off the top three, after a brief spell on the podium.
The second race was quieter for Gajser, who was accompanied at the start by his teammate. Then the championship leader showed his speed and consistency to take off at the front of the race, finishing 11 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
The runner-up was none other than Frenchman Romain Febvre on his Kawasaki, even though he got off to a relatively poor start. He had to reel in his rivals one by one to catch Fernandez (Honda HRC), who was in second place at the time. The Frenchman also benefited from the crash of Coenen (KTM), who had a good pace but probably overdid it and lost the front in a sector that didn't seem all that complicated. Coldenhoff (Fantic) also took the opportunity to take 3rd place. Coenen's mistake notwithstanding, he finished in 4th place, giving him plenty to regret. They put on a great show for 4 intense laps before establishing the positions. Frenchman Maxime Renaux completed the Top 5 on his Yamaha.
Gajser took all 50 points out of a possible 50 this weekend. With his 52nd career victory, he now has a 39-point championship lead over Romain Febvre (274 pts vs. 235). Coldenhoff is 3rd in the championship with 196 points.
The next MXGP round takes place in Switzerland, where Gajser shone last year.
Tim Gajser: I'm really happy with this weekend, two solid races. I knew I had to get off to a good start, as overtaking is always difficult on this track. I started third in the first race, and fought hard with Romain (Febvre) right up to the end before making the overtake. In the second race, I overtook Ruben (Fernandez) early on and just controlled from there. A big thank you to my team and everyone who supports me, and of course to the fans who came out to support me!
Romain Febvre: Honestly, I'm disappointed. I felt like the fastest driver all weekend. The first race went well, but we had a race incident with a yellow flag, I lost time and left the door open to Tim (Gajser) who overtook me. I tried to fight, but I made a mistake and crashed. In the second race, I didn't get a good start, and as Tim said, it's really difficult to overtake here. I managed to work my way up to second, but the gap was too big. I just have to keep working harder to finally win.
Vincent Beaucousin - Image credits :Honda HRC / Kawasaki
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