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Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi became the 2008 season's first two-time winner by storming to victory today in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, the Italian earning the 90th win of his Grand Prix career to match the mark of 13-time World Champion Angel Nieto.

Rossi finished nearly five seconds in front of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo with Texan Colin Edwards earning the final spot on the podium on his Tech 3 Yamaha, in the French team's home race - giving Yamaha a sweep of the MotoGP podium.

Rossi's victory, combined with pre-race championship leader Dani Pedrosa's fourth-place finish, moves Rossi to the championship points lead. The Italian now leads Pedrosa and Lorenzo, who are tied for second, 97-94.

The race started in dry conditions but on the 16th lap the riders were shown the white flag indicating that portions of the track were wet and that riders were free to come in and change to their backup bikes and wet-weather tires. But the rain was mainly in the front portion of the racetrack and the majority of the riders stayed out on their dry set-ups.

One of those who made the change was Casey Stoner, but it wasn't voluntary. Stoner was embroiled in the four-rider fight for second when his Desmosedici broke down on the 21st lap. The World Champion nursed the bike back a considerable distance back to the pits in order to switch to his spare, pushing the last 100 yards.

Rossi's win was his second in a row.

Wtih Pedrosa holding on to finish fourth behind the lead trio of Yamahas ridden by Rossi, Lorenzo and Edwards, fifth place went to Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, the Aussie finishing some 11 seconds behind Pedrosa. JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso finished sixth with Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi seventh, barely besting Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, who ran off the track mid-race.

LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet finished ninth in his home race with Gresini Honda's Shinya Nakano rounding out the top 10 finishers.

Among the non-finishers was Kawasaki's John Hopkins, the Californian losing his chain and forcing his retirement. World Superbike Champion James Toseland suffered his first race crash of the year as he fell from his Tech 3 Yamaha early in the GP

MotoGP Results

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)

2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)

4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)

5. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki)

6. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)

7. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)

8. Nicky Hayden (Honda)

9. Randy de Puniet (Honda)

10. Shinya Nakano (Honda)

From cyclenews.com

The following is from Yamaha

Valentino Rossi made another historic step in his incredible career today when he took his 90th career victory in Le Mans, equalling the record set by the great Angel Nieto, to move into second in the all-time winners list behind Giacomo Agostini. It was an outstanding display from the Fiat Yamaha Team rider and he celebrated in fine style when Nieto joined him on his slow-down lap, the Spaniard taking charge of the bike with Rossi riding pillion behind him.

It was a superb day for Yamaha in general as Jorge Lorenzo once again defied his injuries to ride into an astonishing second place behind his team-mate and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards joined the pair on the podium in third place.

Rossi had an average start and was tailing the lead group in fifth at the end of lap one. It was soon clear how well his Yamaha-Bridgestone package was working ho wever and he picked off first Nicky Hayden then Edwards and Dani Pedrosa to move into second behind Casey Stoner, before passing him too on lap eight. From then on Rossi was too strong for the chasing pack, stretching his lead lap after lap until some spots of rain forced him to slow slightly in the last third of the race. The sun soon came back out however, allowing the riders to continue without changing bikes and the Italian to cross the line 4.997 seconds in front to take his first back-to-back victory since 2006.

The 29-year-old’s 90th win moves him two points clear at the top of the championship with 97 points, whilst Lorenzo and Pedrosa are just behind him with 94 points each. Rossi will now stay here for two days of testing to ready himself for his home race at Mugello in Italy in two week’s time, when he will be looking for his 7th consecutive win at the track.

Valentino Rossi

Position: 1st Time: 44'30.799

“To arrive at 90 wins like this and equal Angel’s record is a dream for me. I had quite a lot of pressure because Angel was waiting with the special leathers to join me on the bike, so I really needed to win! It was great to ride with him – I think maybe with some practice he can be as fast as us! 180 victories together on one bike is quite impressive I think! Honestly I didn’t expect to be so fast today but together with Jeremy and my guys we decided to make some small modifications this morning and in the race my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres worked brilliantly from start to finish. When is started to rain a little bit I thought “oh no!’ and so I steadied a bit and tried to ride very sweetly; I had such a good rhythm and I really didn’t want to have to change bikes. Luckily the rain soon stopped and I was able to continue in the same way. It’s great for Yamaha to have the first three and I want to congratulate Jorge especially for doing such a good job in his condition. Thanks to everybody in the team; the job that Yamaha has done in three months is incredible. I enjoyed myself so much today, the atmosphere in our garage is perfect and now we will make two important days of testing, try to improve even more and then head to Mugello!”