Rins stamps authority on French Moto2 race

Alex Rins has stamped his authority on the French round of Moto2, by taking a controlling victory ahead of Simone Corsi and pole man Thomas Luthi to make the most of a bad day for his title rivals.

Rins led almost from start to finish, eventually stretching his lead out to nearly two seconds at the flag. Luthi was a further three seconds back on Corsi, with the pressure relieved from him when Lorenzo Baldassarri crashed out of fourth in the closing stages.

Franco Morbidelli was fourth, ahead of Takumi Nakagami and Sam Lowes who was able to run a damage limitation exercise on a difficult weekend to salvage a good result.

However, it was a hard weekend for a number of title contenders, with reigning champion Johann Zarco, Jonas Folger, and Alex Marquez all crashing out, while Moto3 champion Danny Kent finished a disappointing 19^th.