Jorge Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo now leads Marc Marquez by five points. Pictured: Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo celebrates after winning the Valencia Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo racetrack in Cheste, November 8, 2015.Reuters

The reigning MotoGP World Champions Jorge Lorenzo won the French Grand Prix at the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans on Sunday. With this win, the Spaniard jumped to the top of the championship standings. Lorenzo is now five points clear of second placed Marc Marquez of Honda.

Lorenzo was followed by his Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales of Suzuki. This was Vinales' first podium finish of his career.

The race at Le Mans was eventful, as several riders (12) crashed during the race. Marquez, who was leading the championship standings until the Spanish GP, crashed as well, but he managed to restart his bike to finish 13th in the French GP on Sunday. The crash of Marquez carved out a wonderful opportunity for Lorenzo to leapfrog the former in the championship standings.

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone pushed hard for a top finish, but the two crashed out of the race in quick succession.

"This was a very important race, a great race for the championship. I wanted to keep a high pace and not lose concentration; I kept pushing on the throttle. I could breathe a little more when Marquez and Dovizioso crashed," Lorenzo was quoted as saying by AFP.

Rossi, who had won the Spanish GP a couple of weeks ago, clinched another podium finish. The Italian rider added 20 points to his tally and is now seven points behind Marquez in the standings.

Here is the current MotoGP 2016 standings:

Pos. Rider Bike Nation Points
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 90
2 Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 85
3 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 78
4 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 53
5 Maverick VIÑALES Suzuki SPA 49
6 Pol ESPARGARO Yamaha SPA 47
7 Aleix ESPARGARO Suzuki SPA 42
8 Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 39
9 Eugene LAVERTY Ducati IRL 33
10 Andrea IANNONE Ducati ITA 25
11 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 23
12 Stefan BRADL Aprilia GER 23
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Aprilia SPA 21
14 Bradley SMITH Yamaha GBR 20
15 Scott REDDING Ducati GBR 16
16 Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 12
17 Tito RABAT Honda SPA 11
18 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 9
19 Loris BAZ Ducati FRA 8
20 Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 5
21 Yonny HERNANDEZ Ducati COL 3
22 Jack MILLER Honda AUS 2