Superbike is officially back from its holidays and put on exactly the kind of show we were hoping for. At an historic track for the production-derived series, the championship’s two frontrunners, Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu shared the spoils, with the Turk scoring two wins and the Spaniard one, though the latter also committed one of the biggest mistakes of the weekend, or rather the incident with Michael Ruben Rinaldi in the Superpole Race.

Magny-Cours also saw the 'return' of Jonathan Rea, while the Italian riders also stood out, as the general standings demonstrate. BMW had its moments, especially with Garrett Gerloff, while Honda is still not seeing the light.

The Magny-Cours report card

Toprak Razgatlioglu 9: Magny-Cours is his track and just in case anyone might be tempted to forget that, the Turk reminds us year after year. He dealt with Rinaldi in race 1, exploited the situation in the Superpole race and even when victory was not within reach – see Race 2 - he still brought home the best possible result. He finished the weekend with two wins, without being the quickest rider – bravo.

Garrett Gerloff 8: this isn’t the first time the American has proved to be the strongest BMW rider, but he did it in style in France. A surprise pole was followed up with two races in which he finished as best independent rider. He was only missing a podium, but the weekend is nevertheless extremely positive.

Jonathan Rea 8: like the great classics, the Northern Irishman “never dies”. A solid performance ssaw Jonathan reach the podium in all three races, showing the kind of potential that few expected in race 2.

Andrea Locatelli 7: yet another error-free weekend for the Italian, but he again comes away without the icing on the cake. Andrea was aiming for the podium, and rightly so, but the return of the ‘big three’ complicated his plans.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi 6.5: Sunday essentially didn't happen for Michael, ruled out of the running first by Bautista and then by a technical issue. He put in a strong performance on Saturday but goes home disappointed with the weekend as a whole.

Remy Gardner 6: it’s easier to imagine a featureless performance than a gesture of pride, and it was a similar story in France. In race 2 he exploited the situation to climb up the field, but there’s little else to report.

Loris Baz 5.5: in Superpole he made the French fans proud, qualifying sixth, a result that augered well for the races. But his potential dissolved in the races, particularly the two long ones, and it’s hard to understand why.

Iker Lecuona 5: switching continuously from MotoGP to Superbike, and with two bikes that are both in difficulty, cannot help. An underwhelming performance anyway, with an eleventh place his best result.

Scott Redding 4: he essentially couldn’t get anything right. Especially on Sunday when he first took out Gerloff in the Superpole Race and then Aegerter in race 2. A weekend to forget, it’s best to look ahead to Aragon.