French Grand Prix
Le Mans, France
Sunday 15th May

GAULOISES YAMAHA TAKE PODIUM DOUBLE AS ROSSI WINS AT LE MANS

Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi extended his lead at the top of the
MotoGP World Championship with a victory from pole position at the French Grand
Prix this afternoon. The Italian World Champion recorded the fastest ever
motorcycle lap of Le Mans in qualifying yesterday and followed it up with a new
lap record on the very last lap of the today's 28-lap race. He was joined on the
podium by team-mate Colin Edwards who took an excellent third place from the
second spot on the grid.

With Rossi making a poor start, Edwards charged to the front and led the way for
the first 20 laps. Meanwhile, Rossi made his way through the pack from sixth
place and joined the American ahead of the field, making his first attempt to
pass on lap 18 as Sete Gibernau (Honda) closed in from third place. The
Italian's attempted manoeuvre failed as he ran wide on the exit of the corner,
allowing Edwards to recover the lead and Gibernau to steal through for second.
However, three laps later the World Champion was back on the charge, passing
Gibernau and then Edwards on consecutive laps and this time hanging on to the
lead.

With Gibernau passing Edwards in the same corner as Rossi, the pair went
head-to-head for the final eight laps and set a scorching pace. The breathtaking
battle went all the way to the final lap, when Rossi set a sensational new
circuit record to secure victory by 0.382 seconds from the Spaniard. His
championship tally now stands at 95 points from a possible 100 giving him a 37
point advantage over Marco Melandri (Honda) whilst Edwards now moves up to sixth
overall. The result also extended Yamaha's lead in the constructors' and teams'
World Championships. The next round of the season takes place at Mugello in
Italy in three weeks' time.

VALENTINO ROSSI - (1st - 44'12.223) New lap record 1'33.678 (lap 28)

"At the start of the race we were lucky that it didn't rain and we were able to
put on a fantastic show. It was a difficult and long but great race, although I
made my life more complicated by messing up the start. But I made positions up
lap by lap with some good overtaking moves and eventually caught Colin. I stayed
behind him for a while because his rhythm was good and nobody was catching up,
but then Gibernau arrived very fast from behind so I decided to try and overtake
and push to the maximum. Every lap I was better and better and I set the fastest
time of the race on the final lap, so that shows the excellent progress we have
made with the setting of the bike. I took pole position, the fastest lap of the
race and the victory and Colin was also on the podium, so it has been a perfect
weekend for us. The bike was very precise and I was able to get the power down
well so this looks good for the coming races. We continue our work here
tomorrow. I'm not sure what I have to test but I'm very happy to stay if we can
make even more progress. I'm looking forward to Mugello and hope to see lots of
Italian fans there."

COLIN EDWARDS (3rd 44'17.934 +5.711)

"I desperately wanted to win that race but the other guys were just too fast
today! Basically we took a gamble on the race tyre because with the limited dry
track time in practice we only had five laps on it and didn't know if it would
work towards the end of the race. I got a good start, got into my rhythm of
mid-34s and knew that should be enough to keep me at the front. If you'd have
said to me you have to get into the 33s I'd have told you there was no way I
could do those times! But then Valentino and Sete came through and their pace
was incredible. The tyre got really hot and I had of couple of moments, so I
just decided to make sure of third place. It's an overdue reward for the
phenomenal job the team have been doing and now we have a firm base to go from
for the rest of the season."

DAVIDE BRIVIO - TEAM DIRECTOR

"It was a fantastic day for us - almost perfect! Valentino took the victory and
extended his lead in the championship, which is good to be able to take to
Mugello in the next round. It was a very important podium for Colin - I have
always believed that he was capable of this kind of performance. Today was a
result of the hard work put in by the team over the winter and the first three
rounds of the season. Now we want to see both riders on the podium as much as
possible!"

RESULTS

 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Gauloises Yamaha Team  44'12.223
 2. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Movistar Honda MotoGP       +0.382
 3. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Gauloises Yamaha Team       +5.711
 4. Marco Melandri (ITA) Movistar Honda MotoGP      +7.276
 5. Max Biaggi (ITA) Repsol Honda Team              +7.703
 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team           +21.770
 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team     +24.664
 8. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team       +35.940
 9. Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Yamaha Team           +38.062
10. Troy Bayliss (AUS) Camel Honda                 +52.607

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA)  95
 2. Marco Melandri (ITA)   58
 3. Sete Gibernau (SPA)    53
 4. Max Biaggi (ITA)       47
 5. Alex Barros (BRA)      43
 6. COLIN EDWARDS (USA)    41
 7. Shinya Nakano (JPN)    27
 8. Nicky Hayden (USA)     26
 9. Olivier Jacque (FRA)   25
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA)  23