Any of the big four -
Dani Pedrosa,
Jorge Lorenzo,
Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner - could secure their second win of the season at the French Grand Prix, but the 2.597 mile circuit and its uncertain weather can provide surprises.
Last year
Chris Vermeulen took full advantage of the soaking wet conditions to secure his first and so far only grand prix victory for Rizla Suzuki. The year before Italian
Marco Melandri won for Honda Gresini while the likes of
Loris Capirossi,
Andrea Dovizioso and Tony Elias have won smaller class races at the legendary circuit.
Nevertheless, it will be a real upset if one of the championship top four doesn't win on Sunday.
Title leader Pedrosa has won 125 and 250cc races at Le Mans on route to world titles in those classes. The Repsol Honda rider returns in 2008 with a seven point lead over arch rival Jorge Lorenzo, who is fighting to regain fitness after a huge during practice accident in China.
Lorenzo, who won the 250cc race at Le Mans last year, celebrated his 21st birthday in China with a brave fourth place to keep him in contention in his battle with Pedrosa.
But both the Spanish riders will be keeping a wary eye on 29-year-old Italian Valentino Rossi who secured his first win of the season, and first ever with
Bridgestone tyres, with a breakthrough ride at Shanghai. The seven times world champion has won twice at Le Mans and now trails Pedrosa by just nine points.
The only rider in that top four not to have won at Le Mans is reigning world champion
Casey Stoner. The Australian was third last year for Ducati and would really benefit from a win on Sunday to close that 25 points gap to Pedrosa.
Fifth place in the world championship is being shared by
James Toseland and Loris Capirossi, 23 points from Stoner.
MotoGP rookie Toseland is currently the top satellite rider and embarks on just his fifth grand prix looking to give Herve Poncharal's Tech 3 Yamaha team a strong showing in their home event, after a tough 12th place finish at Shanghai.
