Unlike some sporting stars, Valentino Rossi is very conscious of his place in history - and paid a special tribute to Angel Nieto after equalling the superstitious '12+1' world champion's 90 grand prix victories on Sunday.

Rossi, who had carried a flag 'apologising' to the late Mike Hailwood for matching the Englishman's total of 76 wins in 2005, was able to pull off a much bigger surprise after joining Nieto as the second most successful rider in grand prix history.

Following a convincing victory in Sunday's French Grand Prix at Le Mans, Rossi stopped at the side of the track where Nieto - who won six 50cc titles and seven 125cc titles during the '60s, '70s and '80s and now works for Spanish television - was waiting.

Angel, wearing special leathers to mark the occasion, congratulated Rossi - then took control of the Italian'sYZR-M1, which he rode for the remainder of the lap with Rossi sat behind him holding a large '90+90' flag.

"To arrive at 90 wins like this and equal Angel's record is a dream for me," said Rossi, after his second victory of the 2008 season. "I had quite a lot of pressure because Angel was waiting with the special leathers to join me on the bike, so I really needed to win! It was great to ride with him - I think maybe with some practice he can be as fast as us! 180 victories together on one bike is quite impressive I think!"

Rossi had dropped from fourth to sixth on the opening lap, but some close racing and exciting overtaking moves saw him take the lead from world champion Casey Stoner on lap 8 of 26.

From then on Rossi was too strong for the chasing pack, stretching his lead lap after lap until a light rain threw his victory into doubt. The sun soon came back out however - negating the need to change bikes - and the Italian crossed the line 4.997 seconds in front of injured Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to take his first back-to-back victory since 2006 and become the first double race winner of 2008.

"Honestly I didn't expect to be so fast today but together with Jeremy and my guys we decided to make some small modifications this morning and in the race my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres worked brilliantly from start to finish," said Rossi, having beaten former tyre supplier Michelin in its home race.

"When is started to rain a little bit I thought 'oh no!' and so I steadied a bit and tried to ride very sweetly; I had such a good rhythm and I really didn't want to have to change bikes," admitted the Italian. "Luckily the rain soon stopped and I was able to continue in the same way.

"It's great for Yamaha to have the first three and I want to congratulate Jorge especially for doing such a good job in his condition. Thanks to everybody in the team; the job that Yamaha has done in three months is incredible. I enjoyed myself so much today, the atmosphere in our garage is perfect and now we will make two important days of testing, try to improve even more and then head to Mugello!"

With Lorenzo finishing second and Colin Edwards third, Le Mans marked the first all Yamaha podium finish in the premier class for seven years, while Rossi has now taken the world championship lead - for the first time this season - by three points over Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

"What a day for Yamaha and for Valentino!" smiled Fiat Yamaha team director Davide Brivio. "This is a great victory, Valentino was even stronger than in China and now we are leading the championship. Our team, engineers and Bridgestone are doing a fantastic job and now we need to maintain this form through the busy run of races coming up."

Rossi, Fiat Yamaha and Bridgestone will now be using the two day test to prepare for the Italian Grand Prix, where Rossi will be aiming for his seventh consecutive Mugello victory.

"Next stop Mugello, which is a very important race for all of us, so we'll be working hard at the test here to make sure we are in the best shape to try to repeat this result!" said Brivio.

Rossi's fellow Italian Giacomo Agostini holds the all-time record for grand prix wins, with a massive 122, but Rossi is now just four victories from Ago's record premier-class tally of 68.