Marc Marquez Wins 2018 MotoGP Grand Prix of France, His 3rd Race in a Row

Marc Marquez won his third race in a row on Sunday when he finished ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Valentino Rossi at Le Mans in the MotoGP Grand Prix of France. 

Andrea Dovizioso crashed out for the second race running, while Johann Zarco—who started on pole—also slid out.

Here is the classification, per MotoGP reporter Simon Patterson:

Marquez's win extending his lead in the race for the world title to 36 points over Maverick Vinales and Crash.net's Neil Morrison believes it already looks to be in his hands:

Per Crash.net, the 25-year-old said: "The race was tough but when I went out I saw the grip was less than this morning. I push from the beginning and I'm happy because normally we struggle here."

Most of the key action was contained in the first third of the race.

A superb opening salvo from Jorge Lorenzo saw him move up five places into first inside the Turn 1, and it was all Zarco could do to take second place ahead of Marquez at Turn 3 after he started slowly.

Dovizioso overtook the Frenchman in the third lap after Zarco ran wide and quickly moved past Lorenzo into first, but he crashed out soon after:

With Lorenzo back in front, Zarco and Marquez duelled for second. The Yamaha man regained second from the Spaniard on the seventh lap, before he too crashed out:

Patterson was not overly surprised to see him retire:

Zarco's crash left Marquez behind only Lorenzo, and he went under his compatriot at Turn 6 to hit the front on Lap 9.

Lorenzo's race spiralled out of control at that point and was soon taken by Petrucci and then Rossi, and he would end the race in sixth.

The next race will see the riders compete in the Italian Grand Prix on June 3. Marquez has won at Mugello in all three classifications, but the race has been dominated by Lorenzo in recent years, having won five of the last seven.

He'll need to perform better than he did in France if he's to beat Marquez to the finish line this time, though.