Valentino Rossi maintained his third place in Frꦕiday practice during the opening Saturday session at the French MotoGP.

But the Italian, like fellow Movistar Yamaha ri🍃der Maverick Vinales, slipped down the order in the hotter afternoon sessions and will start Sunday's race in ninth, just behind h൩is team-mate.

"For sure I expected a little bit more from the qualifying because yesterday and also this morning📖 I was quite strong," Rossi said.

The Doctor felt he could have b🏅een two tenths faster, but that would only have p🏅ut him seventh on the grid.

"In the lap withꦛ the soft tyre I don’t ride at the maximum, I did some small mistakes, so I can do better," Rossi said. "I think my potential can be '31.6-'31.7, so I can go two tenths faster. It is not a big difference. The problem is the others are faster.

"We tried different things. Unfﷺortunately I did a mistake in the FP4 and crashed, but anyway my pace is ꦬnot so bad. Nothing special, but not so bad.

"The problem is we have four, five, six riders with a pace very similar so will be hard. Starting from the third row is always difficult, so it will be impo🦩rtant the start and first laps andඣ after we see how much is my pace for the race."

Once again, Rossi and Vinales were left down the ordeඣr while Monsᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚter Yamaha Tech3 Johann Zarco featured at the front of the field, taking pole position for his home race on the satellite M1.

"Z🐓arco was fast today, also in the other races. He rides very well and is also very fast in the race pace," Rossi said. "We d😼on’t know exactly [why], but we know he's faster than us!"