 1 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Race conditions, wet; air temperature, 16°. This was one of the least satisfying MotoGPs ever as the race was run on a drying track. With these races, strategy counts for everything and ability counts for very little. And, how absurd is it to get a speeding penalty in the middle of a race? |
 2 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Rossi has a huge following in every country in the world and here the French fans mob him. Commentators have remarked that every race for Rossi is a home race. |
 3 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 ROW 1: Dani PEDROSA, Jorge LORENZO, Casey STONER Row 2: Valentino ROSSI, Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Colin EDWARDS |
 4 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 In the 250cc race that immediately preceded MotoGP, only 14 of the 24 riders who started made it to the finish. The 125 race was even worse; of the 33 riders who sat on the starting grid, just 15 made it to the finish line, the last of whom was 2 laps behind the winner. |
 5 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 At the end of the 250 race, the rain stops and leaves a drying track. Lorenzo lines up on a 250 grid spot but is alerted by an official. He quickly manoeuvres his bike into the correct spot. Pedrosa and Stoner lead into the first corner. |
 6 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Into turn 2 and Lorenzo is getting ready to put pressure on the front two. |
 7 50 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Farther back on lap 1, Melandri is having an excellent ride in 7th. |
 8 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Lorenzo moves in front of Pedrosa and Stoner at turn 6 during lap 1 and takes the lead. Even after changing bikes, he doesn't relinquish the lead for the rest of the race. |
 9 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 On lap 2, Rossi passes both Pedrosa and Stoner and moves into second place. |
 10 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 By lap 5, a dry line is starting to form, Lorenzo is streaking away at the front on "wet" tyres and Rossi can not match his pace. |
 11 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 At the end of lap 5, Rossi pits and changes bikes to one with slicks (although not carbon brakes). He is the first to come in while Melandri and Lorenzo keep going on "wet" tyres. |
 12 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Sadly, he almost immediately crashes and damages his bike. He rides the damaged bike back to the pits and gets his "wet" bike again and rides for another lap or so. Then he is booked for speeding in pit lane and has to do a ride-through penalty. Meanwhile his team complete repairs to his "slicks" bike so he comes back to the pits again to collect it. His race is over. |
 13 50 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Stoner is losing pace rapidly such that Chris Vermeulen moves in front of him on lap 7 but Casey takes it back again the next lap. Casey pits on lap 18 and immediately moves back into 5th, a place he holds to the end. |
 14 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Lorenzo rides a very smart race and seems to stay out forever on his "wet" tyres. He pits on lap 12 for his "slicks" bike and manages to get back in front of Melandri without losing position. He then claims another country as Lorenzo's Land. This is far more entertaining than chewing Chuppa Chupps as he did last year. |
 15 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 In a stunning performance, Melandri gets his first podium in over a year. Dovizioso appeared to be cruising for a podium but a determined effort from Pedrosa sees him pass Dovizioso at turn 7 on the last lap. |
 16 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 In a race that depended as much on luck as skill, Lorenzo proved himself to be the most skilled this time. Rossi finished two laps behind out of the points. The Ducatis, apart from Stoner, finished at the bottom. |
 17 Round 4 - Le Mans, Sunday, May 17, 2009 Lorenzo moves into the championship lead 1 point in front of Rossi and Stoner. Dani Pedrosa is still going well despite his injuries, only 9 points from the lead. |
