Seven moments that won Zarco the manic MotoGP French GP

Le Mans has a long history of chaotic, mixed-weather MotoGP races. In the old days, red flags would have been central to the story. More recently, such as when Jack Miller won in 2021, flag-to-flag rules have made frantic mid-race bike changes possible. The 2025 French GP, however, had both.

Weave in multiple strategies and a slew of double long lap penalties being served semi-simultaneously early in the race, and you concoct one of the most confusing spectator experiences in MotoGP history. Those paying close attention at the circuit, with a view of both pitlane and the skies – and there were plenty given another record MotoGP crowd – had a chance of keeping up. On television, for the first several laps at least, it was hopeless.

For an explainer that will deliberately leave out distracting peripheral details, we’ll join winner Johann Zarco for a few key moments of his afternoon. But first, just a little background is required.

The first attempt to start the race was delayed when all the riders, who had left a reasonably dry grid on dry-weather bikes, pitted at the end of a warm-up lap that revealed a wetter track than they had expected. This cavalcade, led by Zarco as it happens, triggered the ‘more-than-10-riders-starting-the-race-from-the-pits’ rule that had been so liberally misunderstood three races earlier in Texas. The red flag flew and caused a quick start procedure.

Rapid though that procedure was, the delay of a few minutes was enough for the track conditions to change once again. When the riders left the pits to head around to the grid, many weren’t so sure about the ‘wet’ bikes they had picked up. More than half of the field peeled into the pits at the end of this ‘sighting’ lap. At this point, with MotoGP race director Mike Webb no doubt thankful that the rules had been so thoroughly clarified just a few days earlier, we can join the Zarco narrative.

Zarco sticks to wet bike

Zarco might be French, but he sure isn’t local. The 34-year-old hails from Cannes on the sunny Riviera. To a man from the southern Midi, Le Mans is a long day’s drive away – possibly even a flight. To many a southern mind, it belongs to a grey, dismal north where winters are proper and rain is never far away. Maybe that’s part of why Zarco trusted that the drying track on that sighting lap wouldn’t last. The forecast, after all, had suggested all along that a more serious shower was still due.

Zarco and his LCR Honda team were on the same page at this critical juncture. Boss Lucio Cecchinello was certain the break in the weather would be brief, saying, “We planned it. We were absolutely convinced that the situation would change in 20 minutes.”

For his part, Zarco explained that scanning the skies on the way to the delayed start had been key: “We are at Le Mans, so we can trust that it’s going to rain. We knew that this [more significant] cloud was coming; they had been announcing it for a few days. We saw that it was coming – and when I was riding I was able to check the clouds. But it still hadn’t arrived yet [on the second sighting lap].”

While it’s easy to be wise after a euphoric success, it does seem that a shared team conviction about the rain’s return helped make Zarco’s decision to proceed to the grid after the sighting lap a relatively simple one.

Weather predictions aside, proceeding to the grid also meant there was no risk of any penalties. But only eight riders chose to join Zarco there. The grid for the second warm-up lap was thus a lonely place. The front row was entirely empty, with the Marquez brothers and poleman Fabio Quartararo – also a southerner, incidentally – missing. They had led the masses into the pits to grab a ‘dry’ bike… and a double long lap penalty for starting that second warm-up lap from the pits.

Zarco’s entire plan hinged on that dark cloud dropping its contents. Halfway around lap four – just in time, really – it obliged

The dry-bike brigade duly roared out of the pitlane for the warm-up lap. As per the rules so recently brought under the magnifying glass, they then took up their original positions for the start – albeit with those penalties looming. At which point, with the benefit of hindsight, Francesco Bagnaia was a favourite for French GP victory as the race finally got underway.

Bagnaia was the highest-placed starter to have stuck with a wet bike. Having qualified sixth, he was five spots ahead of Zarco. He had made the same call and had the benefit of a factory Ducati GP25. Regardless of weather, the double long lap penalty for his nemesis Marc Marquez might be enough to help Pecco to victory – if he could stay out of trouble.

That was a box Bagnaia couldn’t tick. The much-maligned double world champion was not at fault this time, however. Getting skittled off the track at the Dunlop chicane by the out-of-control Enea Bastianini on lap one was a dastardly piece of luck for the Italian. But having to bring his damaged bike in for a forced swap took a potentially thorny rival out of Zarco’s path to victory.

…and Zarco doesn’t

The Bagnaia incident didn’t end with Pecco falling. Honda’s Joan Mir tried to avoid the Ducati slithering into view from his left… and last in the chain reaction was none other your eventual winner. Zarco wasn’t quite able to get out of Mir’s way and contact ensued.

Bagnaia is taken down by Bastianini which triggers a chain reaction as Zarco narrowly avoids also going down

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Zarco’s French GP dream came mighty close to ending right there in the gravel trap on the first lap. While Mir went down, Zarco wobbled, bucked and corrected his way through the brush. Crucially, he kept his RC213V upright. Taking a trip across the gravel was unavoidable, however.

At exactly this moment, Quartararo was grabbing the lead back from Marc Marquez. The man now demoted to 17th place was hardly front of mind for all those rooting for a home winner. With all eyes on Fabio, some may not have spotted Zarco’s near-miss at all.

Zarco sticks to the plan

The opening laps on bikes set up for the wet were tough. These machines were not fast early on. That rain shower needed to come fast for the likes of Zarco, or their tyres would be toast and they would have to stop to grab dry bikes after all.

Indeed, some of them cracked right away. Luca Marini, Alex Rins and Marco Bezzecchi all lost faith in the ‘Zarco strategy’. They pitted for dry bikes after just one lap, negating any chance of profiting from their own gambles. As riders with little to lose, it was an odd decision in hindsight.

But mistakes get made in the heat of the decision-making moment. What helps avoid those errors is clear alignment among all concerned. That Zarco and LCR were on the same page was critical at a moment that invited both dithering and knee-jerks. And it meant that the #5 Honda kept the faith and stayed out.

The rain returns

Zarco’s entire plan hinged on that dark cloud dropping its contents. Halfway around lap four – just in time, really – it obliged. That meant, simply put, that the same majority who had earned penalties for grabbing dry bikes would now, in addition, have to stop to pick up wet ones after all. Staggered over the next three laps, those on slicks ducked in for their bike swaps. In a word, people like Zarco had made them look silly.

Dry to wet to dry to wet – the opening laps were nothing but chaos

Photo by: Marc Fleury

This followed a whole lot of on-track battling that kept breaking off as the frontrunners interspersed it with long loops around Garage Vert to serve their two long lap penalties. Altogether, it added up to eight laps of utter confusion. Experienced watchers knew there was little point in trying to unpack the chaos. It was a case of waiting until things finally settled down and a true picture emerged.

By the end of lap eight, the race took shape at last. When everyone was finally on the correct wet tyres and with penalties out of the way, the man to emerge up at the front of the pack was none other than the forgotten Frenchman.

Miller falls

Zarco was not the only one to stick to his convictions throughout the early twisting and turning. Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) and Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) were on the same strategy. But they are not in Zarco’s league in MotoGP at this moment in time, so although their calls were rewarded by them running higher than usual, they were not ultimately threats.

The only problem remaining for Zarco was a certain Marc Marquez riding a certain factory Ducati. Eight seconds is a lead even a rider on an inferior bike should be able to protect over two-thirds of a grand prix distance. But when the six-time MotoGP world champion is hunting you down, anything is possible

However, there was a fourth rider who had played it exactly right on strategy. A serious lurking shark as far as Zarco was concerned. This was Miller – a master of slippery tracks and a previous winner at Le Mans in mixed conditions.

Towards the end of lap six, the Australian was ahead of Zarco by around 10 seconds. He was, in his own words, “sitting pretty” as the leading man on the right tyres. Given Miller’s skill set, Zarco may have had to settle for second, but the Queenslander lost control of his Pramac Yamaha coming onto the home straight to start lap seven. Although Zarco wouldn’t officially hit the front until a couple of minutes later, sweeping past the stricken Miller was effectively the moment Zarco took the lead.

Zarco breaks Marc Marquez

Zarco still had 17 laps to run when he crossed the line with an eight-second lead over Marc Marquez at the start of lap nine. A great deal of tricky riding remained if he wanted to become the second home MotoGP winner in as many races following Alex Marquez’s Spanish GP triumph.

The weather could, of course, have turned once more and opened the race up to gamblers further back. That didn’t happen; enough rain hung around for the tyre choice to prove the correct one for the long haul.

Zarco didn’t crack when being chased down by Marc Marquez

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

So the only problem remaining for Zarco was a certain Marc Marquez riding a certain factory Ducati. Eight seconds is a lead even a rider on an inferior bike should be able to protect over two-thirds of a grand prix distance. But when the six-time MotoGP world champion is hunting you down, anything is possible.

On lap eight, there was a hint of a threat as Marc tried to learn how hard it might be to chip away at Zarco’s lead. He went a couple of tenths quicker than Zarco that time around. He had to pass Oliveira to take second on lap nine, but in clear air on lap 10 he came up a tenth shy of Zarco’s time. Marc was in the same ballpark for a couple of laps after that, but then Zarco really responded with a couple of killer laps on laps 14 and 15, when he suddenly found several tenths.

That’s when Marc decided enough was enough. He wasn’t going to reel in eight seconds by trading tenths, and now the Frenchman was raising the bar by a chunk. Zarco was not a title rival and 20 points would be on offer if Marc kept his GP25 upright. The only way he could entertain catching Zarco now was by taking a monumental risk. In his mind, then, he ceded defeat.

While that has to be a good thing for any leading rider, it doesn’t necessarily make it any easier. With no pressure from behind, Zarco had to manufacture his own way to keep up his concentration. The fact that he kept stretching his lead made everyone in the LCR garage tear out their hair, willing him to slow down.

But a rider of Zarco’s experience knows what he is doing, and he used every bit of it to keep himself focused until the very last lap – at which point he did allow himself the liberty of waving to his home crowd. And on what may very well prove to be the happiest day of his entire career, who would begrudge him that?

Zarco celebrates with team boss Lucio Cecchinello as he crosses the line for a memorable home win

Photo by: Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images