Valentino Rossi was a protagonist in an exciting, hard-fought race in wet conditions during the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, where he climbed from the third row of the grid to the second step of the podium. Nicky Hayden, despite an unfortunate start, worked his way up to sixth by the finish.

Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow thrilled a large crowd of over 80,000 fans in Le Mans today, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders challenging for the podium in a rain-hit and exciting French MotoGP race.

After a predicted rain all weekend, today was the first time that the Premier Class riders had tried out their bikes with rain conditions , in this 2012 Grand Prix of France.

Karel Abraham did not finish the Grand Prix of France due to problems with his motorcycle settings. The racer from Cardion AB Motoracing team was struggling with his sliding motorcycle on the wet track in Le Mans for several laps and finally decided to retire after the first third of the race.

From crashes on the grid, rejoins throught pit lane, to pit in´s half way throught the race, the rain and the slippery track at Le Mans have made the MotoGP race unpredictable.