But the Spaniard was not fazed by the reigning world champion’s fast early rhythm and managed to keep the gap to less than half a second for most of the race before deciding to make the move in the later laps.

The first attempt at turn two was met with a switch-back maneuver from Bagnaia, who once again reinstated himself as the race leader, but in the following lap, Martin made sure to make the move stick this time around in turn two.

The championship leader then put on a defense clinic on Bagnaia to win the French Grand Prix at Le Mans. With this, Martin completes the hat trick of pole position, Sprint win, and Sunday race win, to enjoy one of his most successful weekends to date.

“Well, for sure!” affirmed Martin when asked if it was his most successful weekend to date. “Winning the sprint and then Sunday’s race is the best feeling!”

“It’s really similar to Misano. So I’m really happy with my performance. I think we got to a good moment with the bike where I could feel the limit of where I can arrive.”

Despite losing the lead early on to Bagnaia, Martin felt that he had no reason to panic, instead, he felt more comfortable behind the wheel of the race leader, who instead had to concentrate more to stay in the lead for the majority of the 27 laps.

“I was really confident. Today, I didn’t have the best start, but I was confident behind Pecco. He was feeling the weight of the race, and I was just letting the laps through.”

“And then when I thought it was my moment, I tried that move. I had to make it twice because he was really competitive on braking. But finally, I was able to get the lead and win today.”

“It was a long race! To be in the lead for 27 laps was too much today [for Bagnaia]. So even if I was second in the first laps, I was really happy because I saw we were pulling away from the ones behind us.”

So I said, OK, here is the best pace. Pecco is doing a great job. And at some point, I said, OK, how can I not try?

With a statement-making performance yet again, Martin was adamant that this was the best he had ever felt and that he will continue doing the talking on track.

“I think my progression is clear,” said Martin. “I mean, I think you can see from the results. It’s my best start of the season since I started in Moto3 in 2015. So yeah, I am progressing.”

“I am becoming a better rider, a better person. And I think this is the most important thing.”