Johann Zarco, the hero that the public of the French MotoGP Grand Prix was waiting for

The drizzle that fell on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans on Sunday afternoon, May 11, did little to dampen the public's enthusiasm for the French MotoGP Grand Prix. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Because under these conditions, Johann Zarco excels. The Cannes rider for the Honda-LCR team, the Japanese manufacturer's satellite team, proved this by winning the event .

This "magical" moment for the man in question, who was competing in the ^150th Grand Prix of his career in the premier class, was just as magical for the 120,000 people gathered around the Sarthe circuit. It had been 71 years since a Frenchman had won the national round. The last time was Pierre Monneret, on a 500cc Gilera, in 1954, when the event was still held on the triangular circuit of Reims-Gueux, in the Marne department.

This victory also comes at the place where Johann Zarco achieved the first podium of his career among the elite, in 2017. At the time, he said he had "come to MotoGP so that La Marseillaise could finally ring out " . He had to wait nine years. Like a symbol, his dream came true before the eyes of his parents, who had until then never seen their son race, in seventeen years of career. "Motorcycling is such a warlike sport that I never wanted to involve my family in it" , he confided to Le Monde a few days before the Le Mans meeting.

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