• Stoner comes home first from pole position
• Pedrosa crashes after clipping Marco Simoncelli's wheel

Australia's Casey Stoner recovered from a shaky start to seize victory in an eventful French grand prix in which the championship hopeful Dani Pedrosa crashed out.

Honda's Stoner began in pole position for the third time in four races but Pedrosa zoomed past him almost immediately only to lose the initiative soon afterwards.

As Stoner pulled away from the pack, Spain's Pedrosa was involved in an enthralling battle for second with Marco Simoncelli and fell into the gravel after clipping the back wheel of the Italian.

Simoncelli was punished for the incident by stewards and suffered a ride-through penalty for an "illegal manoeuvre", allowing his compatriot Andrea Dovizisio to claim second.

The world champion and championship leader, Jorge Lorenzo, came home fourth.