Source: Supplied.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez rebounded from an early incident in the Grand Prix of France at Le Mans to claim a valuable three points for 13th position.

Marquez went down while he was fighting for second position with Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi, but was able to rejoin the race in last place and finished 13th.

“It was a pity about the crash today,” Marquez explained. “I was having a good race, but these things can happen when you’re at the limit on every lap. I could have opted for a more conservative race, but here you can end up far back if you do that, so today I had to take risks.

“In the race I saw that I was losing ground under acceleration and I had to make that back with my braking. Finally I lost the front and crashed. The positive is that I managed to get three points and I’m only five off Jorge Lorenzo in the standings, which isn’t a lot. Now we have a run of tracks that we found a little tough last year, but they’re quite different to Jerez and Le Mans, so I hope to be fast and have some good races.”

After salvaging three championship points in France, Marquez currently lies second in the overall standings, five points down on defending champion Lorenzo.