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Valentino Rossi, Michael Schumacher and Stephane Peterhansel together sharing tarmac here in Le Mans. Fair enough, it was left to Valentino to wrestle his machinery on the track but the titles on show were pretty spectacular.

Final Practice and Qualifying for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France was another examination for how to manage pretty changeable conditions, but credit to Dovi, Cal, Valentino and Ben in MotoGP as they faced off some pretty unwelcome weather to put together qualifying runs that leave them looking to the front of the pack later today in Le Mans.

From the sound of the campsites last night, the tens of thousands of fans already gathered here in Le Mans sure are. The Monster Energy Grand Prix de France is primed for its showdown as round four of the MotoGP World Championship clicks into gear with FP3 and Qualifying all set to go down at the Bugatti Circuit later today.

Not only because the festival atmosphere of the French Grand Prix always creates an awesome backdrop for the homecoming race of the Provence based Monster Energy backed squad, but also because for the first time, the team is heading to Le Mans higher in the point standings in first half of the season than ever before.

The dream of most riders is to win their home grand prix. The contingent of British World Superbike and World Supersport riders have two chances, Donington Park and Silverstone. British weather is notoriously fickle, regardless of the time of the year, but this year that wasn’t the case.

The track was as much of a character as the riders themselves on this first of two South American flyaways. The dusty conditions on Saturday even caused the riders to group together and sit out the qualification heats.

Mercedes AMG Petronas drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher put in solid performances to dial their Silver Arrows into points scoring grid slots of 6th and 8th, all while juggling tricky setup and tyre problems.

All four Monster-supported riders made the semi-finals in a tough battle in Prague, but it was Tomasz who hit the box once again.

Vans Spring Classic proved once again to be one of the fastest growing and must fun skateboarding events in southern Europe. Imagine three days of partying, incredible music shows and insane action and you still won´t experience half of the fun we got in Varazze´s pier.

This was always going to be a pretty tough round, with home team Slovenia knowing the track inside out and Ukraine bringing a team of mega-talented kids, but the Americans wanted it so much more than the rest and it showed.