MT Helmets rider Sergio Garcia led from the opening lap to the chequered flag, controlling Moto2 proceedings at Le Mans to reclaim the lead in the championship standings.
Garcia took his second win of the year ahead of his team-mate Ai Ogura, who charged from 17th on the grid to secure the team’s first-ever one-two finish.
American Racing’s Joe Roberts finished fourth, conceding the championship lead to Garcia in the process.
Canet was the unlikely polesitter, walking on crutches after he fractured his left fibula during practice at Jerez two weeks ago.
The Fantic Racing rider was joined on the front row by Roberts and Garcia.
Garcia was the man who got the holeshot as Canet and Roberts didn’t get as great a leap from the line.
That gave the Spaniard an opportunity to give himself a small gap over Roberts, Manuel Gonzalez and Alonso Lopez at the end of the first lap, whilst Canet was struggling in eighth.
Canet started his recovery over the next few laps, finding himself in fifth place by Lap 5 with the fastest lap in his pocket at this point.
Garcia at this point led by just under a second as Roberts stalked him from a short distance, matching his pace.
Canet’s charging wasn’t looking like slowing as he made his way up to fourth on Lap 6, sitting just behind Roberts and Lopez.
Despite his injury, Canet looked like the only rider capable of matching race leader Garcia’s pace and so he forced his way into second Lap 7 as a scrap ensued between him, Roberts and Lopez.
The scrap meant Garcia’s lead stretched to over one and a half seconds, making reigning in the leader a harder task.
As the 22 Lap race progressed, Canet’s progression looked to have halted in second place, as he sat nearly two seconds back from Garcia by Lap 13.
Canet himself enjoyed a 1.3s gap over Lopez in third as Roberts had been demoted to fourth and his run of successive podiums looked like it could come to an end.
Roberts had the likes of Ogura and Somkiat Chantra for company as the Moto2 contest settled into a calm rhythm, with most riders riding in a steady formation.
Ogura pace was improving as the race came to a close and he capitalised by passing Roberts to claim fourth late on.
A second up the road with four laps to go was Lopez, who had started to reel in second-placed Canet and the gap was down to under half a second between the riders running in second and third.
Garcia, meanwhile, looked to have wrapped up proceedings, enjoying a lead of several seconds and looking untouchable.
Lopez successfully caught and passed Canet to take second place on Lap 20 going into Turn 9, but there was no chance of him catching Garcia.
Canet was now a moving roadblock, perhaps succumbing to the pain of his injuries or an overworked tyre, and had a queue of riders tucked in behind him.
Lopez hadn’t managed to break clear of the chasing pack either as Ogura moved up to third at the start of the last lap.
Ogura then moved up to second as Canet found himself pushed wide by Roberts going into Garage Vert.
Garcia won in fine fashion with Ogura ensuring the brand new MT Helemts Moto2 squad secured a one-two.
The win for Garcia means he now leads the standings with 89 points, seven points ahead of Roberts on 82.
Lopez held onto third ahead of Roberts with Chantra completing the top five.
Canet fell to sixth by the time the chequered flag fell and Fermin Aldeguer finished in seventh.
Tony Arbolino, Albert Arenas and Izan Guevara completed the top-10.
Jeremy Alcoba finished 11th, ahead of Filip Salac and Senna Aguis in 12th and 13th respectively.
Darryn Binder and Marcos Ramirez picked up the last of the points in 14th and 15th.
