When Andrea found himself at the start of the race behind the three Yamahas of Johann Zarco, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, then the three Hondas of Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow, the situation seemed difficult for the Ducati rider. But he never gave up and obtained a good fourth place.
Starting from the second row after setting the sixth fastest time in qualifying on Saturday, Dovi quickly found himself battling with Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow, while Johann Zarco, Maverick Vinales, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez had left them behind.
Andrea couldn't keep up with Dani Pedrosa's pace, but he put up a great fight with Cal Crutchlow, his former teammate from their days at Tech3. The Briton resisted for a long time, and it took some persistence for Dovizioso to manage to snatch fourth place from him, despite pain in his right arm.
According to Andrea Dovizioso, “ In the end, today's fourth place was a good result, and maybe I could have even tried to fight for the podium with Pedrosa, but I can't be fully satisfied.
“We probably got the best result possible because towards the middle of the race I had to slow down my pace. As I attacked in several areas of the track, I lost strength in my right forearm and could not continue with the same intensity throughout the race.
“In the last laps my pace was quite good and I managed to get into the under 1'33 quite easily and stay in front of Crutchlow until the flag. »
Classification of the French Grand Prix:
1. Maverick Vinales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 43m 29.793s
2. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 43m 32.927s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 37.510s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 43m 41.016s
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 43m 43.312s
6. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 43m 53.795s
7. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 43m 55.526s
8. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 44m 2.396s
9. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 44m 15.577s
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 18.125s
11. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 44m 19.829s
12. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 44m 22.454s
13. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 44m 22.972s
14. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 44m 25.225s
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 36.671s
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
| 1 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | SPA | 85 |
| 2 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 68 |
| 3 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 62 |
| 4 | Marc Márquez | Honda | SPA | 58 |
| 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | FRA | 55 |
| 6 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | ITA | 54 |
| 7 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | GBR | 40 |
| 8 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | SPA | 38 |
| 9 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | GER | 38 |
| 10 | Jack Miller | Honda | AUS | 29 |
| 11 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | ITA | 26 |
| 12 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | GBR | 26 |
| 13 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | FRA | 19 |
| 14 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | SPA | 17 |
| 15 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | ITA | 15 |
| 16 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | SPA | 14 |
| 17 | Tito RABAT | Honda | SPA | 13 |
| 18 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 12 |
| 19 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | CZE | 9 |
| 20 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | SPA | 7 |
| 21 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | SPA | 6 |
| 22 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | GBR | 6 |
| 23 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | GBR | 2 |
| 24 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | FRA | 1 |
