The MotoGP paddock in Le Mans on Thursday was a complete contrast to Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix round at Jerez, with a quiet and relaxed atmosphere and a grey colour scheme provided by the cloud hanging over the historic French circuit.

A big reason behind the subdued atmosphere was a organised Paris press conference for  the reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi, in whichi Valentino Rossi rode a Yamaha R1 motorcycle through the country’s capital, the italian did a burnout underneath the Eiffel Tower, he then nearly missed an engagement at the Official MotoGP Pre-event Press Conference. The event, which stopped traffic at the Arc de Triomphe as the superb Fiat Yamaha made his way down to the Champs-Élysées, was put on by the Italian's personal sponsor Monster.

Courtesy of a speedy helicopter trip to the Le Mans circuit, Valentino Rossi joined up with Colin Edwards, Aussie Casey Stoner, Marco Melandri and home town favorite Randy de Puniet in the media centre where the riders had been holding court.

Casey Stoner was confident and had this to say “You can change things around anytime,” said the 2007 MotoGP World Champion. “This is quite a difficult track for me, and maybe that’s something to do with me not being able to get my head around the circuit. We’ve had lot of podium opportunities at this track, but never managed the result that we want. I seem to flow well here, but come race day we haven’t got it together. This year we’re confident of being competitive –the result in Jerez proved that.”

Besides the inevitable battle that will unfold between Casey Stoner and  Valentino Rossi, who described the Le Mans track as “always very good for Yamaha, and especially last year with the Bridgestone tyres”- there will be a lot of interest given to home rider Randy de Puniet when he lines up on the grid on Sunday. The LCR Honda rider has been building up his confidence since the star of the year and crossed the line in fourth at the previous round.

“The race in Spain was an important boost for my home Grand Prix,” said De Puniet. “However, we have to start from zero here. We’ve been getting better with the tyres and are looking to improve our setup with every race.”

Fellow Italian Marco Melandri rounded off proceedings as he gave a review of his stunning resurgence to form since moving to Hayate Racing Team, most recently topped off by his own remarkable fifth place at Jerez. Melandri won the 2006 Grand Prix de France, and finished on the podium in 2007.

The practice sessions at Le Mans begin at 1.55pm local time for the premier class, returning to a one hour duration. Riders had pushed for the move over the past few weeks, but the notoriously no-frills Edwards had the last word and a different take on the switch.

“Just tell everybody to come on Sunday. We’ll warm-up, qualify and race. With the Yamaha we have things pretty good right off the bat, so it would work to our advantage!” said Edwards.

We look forward to a great weekend of racing.