Monster Yamaha's Johann Zarco has blamed his own impatience for the crash that robbed him of a potential hometown podium at the Le Mans MotoGP round.

Zarco was sitting behind Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo and said he probably should have waited for the Spaniard's tyres to drop and for his own fuel load to go down, but he was aware there was also a queue of other riders behind him.

"I think I could have the pace, I don't know for victory but for the podium, and second place was possible. Normally with the bike getting more light and with less fuel after half-race I could have an advantage. But the problem in all these laps at the beginning of the race to try to overtake Lorenzo has been too difficult," said Zarco, speaking at the track.

"I tried to do it but I was losing a lot in acceleration and then when you have to catch him back and then think about how to overtake him, this I think took all my energy. I was more than 100 per cent to do it and that is what it pushed me to the mistake in that corner. I did not expect to crash.

"I should have maybe waited to have less fuel and feel more comfortable, and wait that Jorge can go a little bit slower to overtake him. But the way I was pushing already at the moment didn't give me the possibility to act in this way. If I maybe tried to wait even more, I might have lost more positions."