Replacing him is Suzuki test rider Yukio Kagayama There was further confusion as the race was initially classified as wet, but during the official sighting lap by the safety car, officials declared the track to be dry enough to start with slick tyres, thus declaring it a dry race minutes before the start.

As an act of defiance, he went into the pits and urged everyone to do likewise, following him to switch bikes on grounds of safety reasons.

Mechanics quickly change the tyres on the bikes to put on the full wets, delaying the start.

As all the riders and mechanics were still preparing, the new race start was pushed back to 15:50 with the pit lane reopening at 15:40 for a total of five minutes.

After a relative period of waiting, all the riders line up on a now rain soaked grid and begin the warm-up lap.

The same thing happened to Aoki's teammate Jeremy McWilliams, meaning that both will have to start from the back of the grid.

Barros makes up multiple positions from the second row and moves up into fourth, also benefiting from Capirossi's appalling start which dropped him way back into the field after he failed to get away properly.

Jacque, who initially looked to have a bad start, managed to get away well and overtakes multiple people before going up the inside of teammate Barros at the Haarbocht (Turn 2) for fourth position.

At the straight before the medium speed unnamed right hander before Strubben, a charging Troy Bayliss goes up the inside of Barros and takes fifth place from him.

However, just before the entrance of the Geert Timmer Bocht (Turn 16), he makes a late lunge and dives up the inside of Bayliss to take back fourth place in the process.

At the Ossebroeken (Turn 4), Biaggi makes his move and takes the lead from Gibernau by passing him via the inside, with Rossi trying to catch Jacque in the meantime.

At the Geert Timmer Bocht, Rossi outbrakes Jacque and passes him entering the right-left-right hander to take third place.

Exiting the corner, Jacque has a slight wobble which allows Bayliss to get close to him and pass him for fourth at the start/finish straight.

At the short, unnamed right-hand kink before De Bult (Turn 10), Gibernau goes alongside Biaggi and passes him for the lead.

On lap four, Gibernau goes again side-by-side with Biaggi on the start/finish straight, forcing the Italian to go onto the grass almost and back off slightly at the S-Bocht, aggressively taking over the lead once more.

Gibernau also sets the fastest lap, only for that honour to fall to Noriyuki Haga down in eighth place.

Bayliss closes the small gap right back up at the Haarbocht and overtakes Rossi at the outside of the corner, promoting him to third.

McCoy lets Gibernau through with relative ease, but blocks Biaggi significantly in the middle of the Geert Timmer Bocht, causing him to lose valuable time and touch with the Spaniard.

He lost the front at De Bult and almost hits Barros as he rolls onto the circuit, who can narrowly avoid him and slow down.

Haga is now starting to struggle significantly, having a moment exiting the Strekkenwal (Turn 9) and allowing Checa to close up at a rapid pace.

Confused and disappointed he stands up and looks at his wrecked bike in the dirt and grass, knowing that his race is finished.

A bit further behind is a jubilant Biaggi who comes home second, possibly because he knows he has defeated Rossi today.

On the parade lap back to parc-fermé, Gibernau celebrated by putting his finger in the air, then tries to stand up on his bike again.

Biaggi is the first to arrive at parc-ferme, the 'Roman Emperor' shaking hands with some of the Repsol Honda mechanics, then with some of his own Camel Pramac Pons crewmembers.

Next up is a delighted Biaggi in second and in the end Gibernau comes up with the crowd valiantly cheering as he happily appears.

Jean-Pierre Aujoulet, the then Sponsoring Manager at Gauloises, hands Gibernau the trophy, which he happily accepts, kisses and then slowly holds up for all to see.

The Spanish national anthem plays for Gibernau and the crowd applauds once it stops, shouting "Sete!