Bagnaia denies returning Marquez to take French MotoGP pole, SA's Binder starts in 10th

Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia grabbed pole from the returning Marc Marquez for this weekend's French MotoGP in qualifying at Le Mans on Saturday.

Six-time world champion Marquez was heading for the front of the grid on his return from injury sustained in a first-lap crash in the season-opener in Portugal.

But the 30-year-old Spaniard was bettered by just 0.058sec by Bagnaia's final flying lap to leave the Ducati rider heading the grid for both Saturday's sprint and Sunday's main event.

South Africa's Brad Binder, third in the overall standings, starts from the fourth row.

"It wasn't easy; everything went well. I'm very happy; it was a great lap time," said Bagnaia, seeking his third sprint win of the campaign.

Honda's Marquez was thrilled to be back in the heart of the action after claiming pole position in Portugal, only to then break his hand in the crash on race day.

A fifth surgery in three years followed, and he sat out the following rounds in Argentina, United States and Jerez.

He commented: "My target today was really to be on the third row, but I'm on the front so I did something amazing. I had a better feeling with my bike than yesterday."

He added: "Starting from the front row is much easier, but the main aim this weekend is to try to show speed and put together a series of fast laps in a row against the Ducatis."

Joining this pair on the front row of the grid for the fifth round of the season is Luca Marini for Valentino Rossi's Ducati-VR46 team.

Marini did well after having to come through the first qualifying repechage session, where only the first two riders go through to the shoot out for the first four rows of the grid.

Missing out, though was 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo.

The Frenchman failed to