Febvre moving nearer to first 2017 spoils

Lingering just off-stage was Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre. The 2015 World Champion again came within ‘roost’ of his first trophy of a patchy ’17 season so far. The Frenchman was fourth overall and his tasty – and sometimes aggressive – battle with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle (eighth in Agueda after a second moto opening corner fall when he couldn't avoid the fallen Jose Butron) was one of the action showpieces of this twelfth GP from nineteen. #461 just missed more effective launches from the gate to plough ahead over the bumpy dirt and figure for top three rankings.

The heat was again a determining factor and punished the Grand Prix collective as well as pushing the majority to their physical limits. Febvre’s teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek – making his return from a broken finger – was one victim of the harsh conditions and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jordi Tixier sadly sustained a knee injury in the first race under the Portuguese sun.

In MX2 Kemea Yamaha’s Benoit Paturel had to pin-the-grip to rally back from two poor starts and the Frenchman was another athlete denied a podium appearance by the slimmest margin.

MXGP will loosen its grip on the throttle cable for two weekends. Clement Desalle keeps his status as Cairoli’s nearest pursuer in the championship picture and is second, 91 points behind the Italian with seven rounds and fourteen motos to go.