Jorge Lorenzo beat Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi to victory at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.
Lorenzo claimed his second win of the season in the third round at Le Mans and now lies nine points clear of Rossi atop the leaderboard.
Rossi, who began the race on pole, was second and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was third.
The Spaniard's success made it three out of three for Yamaha this season.
Pole-sitter Rossi led into the first corner ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo.
Casey Stoner ran off on the second lap, leading to the Australian's second non-finish of the season.
Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) were also forced to retire prematurely.
Up front Lorenzo took the lead ahead of Rossi on lap seven, only to relinquish it soon after.
However, he went in front again on lap 10 and held on for victory.
In an intriguing battle for the final podium place, Dovizioso passed Pedrosa on the final lap and the Spaniard was later overtaken by Nicky Hayden to finish in fifth.
Lorenzo was thrilled after capitalising on Rossi's minor blip.
"If this had happened to me three or four years ago, maybe I would have done some crazy thing," the 23-year-old said on www.autosport.com.
"I now feel much more confident, now I can be more calm and ride better. Today was good for that.
"I was patient, I understood that Valentino would brake so late, so I waited for one mistake from him.
"He doesn't do many mistakes, so I just waited, and tried to exit the corners as close to him as possible.
"When I made it, it was easier than I expected."
Rossi is surprised Lorenzo, rather than Stoner, is his closest title rival.
"Nine points is better to have as an advantage than a disadvantage, but the championship is so long," said Rossi.
"What I didn't expect is to be fighting just with Jorge. After the winter I'd expect Stoner - maybe also Dani, but especially Stoner - to be closer.
"Sometimes, on some races and some days, you don't have enough speed to try to win.
"In the past with different bikes and different tyres, it was possible to invent something during the race.
"Now if you don't have the pace, you just crash, so these 20 points are not bad."
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