In France, there were crowds in the Castellet paddock and then on the track, with sixty entrants per class: 53 in the 500, with 36 places available on the grid. Nico, making his debut with the ex-Findlay Suzuki Jada twin-cylinder, finished 19th after a terrible start and was lapped by the Yamahas and MVs.

Only ten riders finished the race with a full number of laps: with a straight like the Mistral, two thousand meters long, the private bikes suffered and... they were also at risk! What a scare when the two Yamahas came down on them! And what a roar from the two MV Agustas!

Nineteen-year-old Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto was the absolute star of the day: with the standard Yamaha bikes from Venemotos, he outclassed the official Iwata riders, Takai in the 250 and Ago in the 350! A phenomenon. And Jorg Moeller's Morbidelli 125s were phenomenal, two rockets: but the riders battled each other and crashed immediately, only Pileri managed to restart and finished third, Giancarlo Morbidelli was furious and in the end imposed a choice that... A very special GP, nice to relive it from the inside.