If history is to repeat itself the Polini Grand Prix de France at Le Mans on Sunday may provide the answer. Last year Italian Valentino Rossi came into the race around the Bugatti circuit after winning the opening three rounds, riding the NSR Honda. His winning run came to an abrupt halt at the 'stop-start' circuit when the Yamaha pair of Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa dominated the 28-lap race with Rossi third.

Rossi arrives at the fourth round of this year's championship around the slightly revised 2.598mile/4.180km circuit in almost a similar position having won two out of the three opening rounds and finishing second in the other, riding the RC211V four-stroke Honda. He leads his team-mate Tohru Ukawa, who won the other Grand Prix, by an impressive 29 points and will definitely be the man to beat in the 28-lap race on Sunday. The 23 year-old Italian has never won at Le Mans, finishing third in his only two 500cc appearances in the last couple of years.

The likelihood of the Yamaha pair halting the Honda run on Sunday are surely lower this year however, after both Biaggi and Checa failed to score points at the previous round in Jerez. Riding the YZR-M1 Yamaha, Checa is sixth in the championship but 43 points adrift of Rossi while Biaggi has struggled so far this year and has only scored seven points.

Rossi and Ukawa's main challengers may come from Honda riders but on two-stroke 500cc machines. In Jerez World 250cc Champion Daijiro Kato rode brilliantly on the Honda NSR to finish second behind Rossi. He won the 250cc race at Le Mans last year after a tremendous battle with Tetsuya Harada. Kato is really getting to grips with the 500cc Honda now and is third in the Championship, just two points adrift of Ukawa. Italian Loris Capirossi has pushed Rossi hard a couple of times this year and finished fourth at Jerez after a frantic battle for the final podium position with Ukawa. The Honda Pons rider is just three points behind Kato with the Team D'Antin Yamaha machine of Norick Abe in fifth place. Abe has a good record at Le Mans having finished fourth last year and second in 2000.

Brazilian Alex Barros is also coming into form after finishing fifth at Jerez while Frenchman Olivier Jacque will make his first MotoGP championship appearance in front of his home crowd, riding a Yamaha. The former 250cc World Champion missed the race last year because of injury and will be looking for a clean start on Sunday after incurring two ten-second penalties already this season for jumping the start. Australian Garry McCoy is fighting his way back to fitness but has painful memories of Le Mans after crashing in practice and breaking his wrist last year.

Suzuki have been busy testing at Jerez and Clermont-Ferrand between races and their GSV-R four-strokes continue to make progress. Both Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau are using Michelin tyres for the remainder of the season after switching from Dunlops before Jerez. It proved a successful initial switch after they picked up their first points of the season in Spain. Frenchman Regis Laconi will be looking for a good performance on the RS Cube four-stroke Aprilia, which continues its development.

Spaniard Fonsi Nieto will have to forget that historical day in Jerez as he fights to consolidate his lead in the 250cc World Championship. The Aprilia Aspar rider won his very first Grand Prix in front of the fanatical home fans at Jerez to grab the lead in the very competitive championship chase. He leads Italian Roberto Rolfo by just three points with another Italian, Franco Battaini just another two points adrift in third place. Add Emilio Alzamora, Rolfo's Honda Gresini team-mate, to the mix in fourth place, just one point behind Battaini, and you have a hard fought battle for the title. Italian Marco Melandri would have expected to be right up there but two crashes and just one victory have left the teenager down in eighth place, one point behind Frenchman Randy De Puniet who also crashed out in Jerez.

The biggest support of the day will come for Frenchman Arnaud Vincent in the 24-lap 125cc race. The Aprilia rider leads World Champion Manuel Poggiali by an impressive 24 points in the championship, after the San Marino racer was excluded from the results in Jerez for riding in an irresponsible manner. The Gilera rider will be desperate to repeat his first career victory of last year to close the gap on Vincent. Italian veteran Lucio Cecchinello arrives in good form after winning in Jerez.