Vermeulen wins French Grand Prix

Vermeulen beat last year's winner Marco Melandri of Italy on a Honda after coping perfectly with the tricky conditions on the 4.18-km Le Mans circuit.

Casey Stoner of Australia steered his Ducati to third place to extend his lead at the top of the world championship standings to 21 points over Italian Valentino Rossi.

Seven-times world champion Rossi, who has been struggling all weekend, finished sixth behind Spain's Dani Pedrosa and Germany's Alex Hofmann.

Rossi, starting outside the front row for the first time this season, took the lead after a couple of corners but was soon attacked by local favourites Randy De Puniet and Sylvain Guintoli.

Kawasaki rider De Puniet took command of the race after five laps with Rossi suddenly dropping back four places.

With drizzle turning into heavier rain 20 laps from the finish line, Guintoli, De Puniet and Toni Elias crashed and John Hopkins took the lead.

The American made a pit-stop along with Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa on the 10th lap to change tyres. Melandri opted not to make a change and he was soon overtaken by Vermeulen.

The Australian, whose best previous result was second place in last year's rain-hit Australian GP behind Melandri, never looked back.

"When I saw all those riders on the ground I just tried to keep it together," Vermeulen told a news conference.

"(Deciding) when to come to the pits and change tyres was the hardest part. I must admit I followed my instincts, I did not really think.

"Then I saw my lead increase until Marco came closer but I realised he was at the limit."

Melandri said: "It was very tough at the start when it was only drizzle. When it started to really rain, it was much easier. We just had to change tyres.

"I tried to catch him but when I came close it started to rain more and it became much more difficult for me. Then I just told myself: 'Okay, Chris, this is your race'."

In the 250cc class, Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo rode his Aprilia to his fourth victory from five races this season to extend his world championship lead to 32 points.

Lorenzo, who has been beaten this year only by Italian rival Andrea Dovizioso in Turkey, took a decisive lead with six laps to go and beat the Honda rider by 0.156 seconds.

"All the team did a good job on the bike on Friday night. I am very happy because it was a very difficult race," Lorenzo said.

Spaniard Sergio Gadea benefited from Mattia Pasini's woes to claim his first world championship victory in the 125cc category.

Gadea took command of the race five laps from the line when Aprilia rider Pasini, who had started from pole for the fourth consecutive race, pulled out with mechanical problems.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who was also on an Aprilia, beat Czech Derbi rider Lukas Pesek, who stretched his lead in the world championship standings over Hungary's Gabor Talmacsi to nine points.

Talmacsi, on an Aprilia, came home in fourth place behind 16-year-old Briton Bradley Smith who rode his Honda to his first podium finish.