Max Biaggi is well placed to finish fourth at the end of his first World Superbike Championship season with the returning Aprilia Racing team after picking up another pair of podiums at Magny-Cours.

Having already impressed by qualifying on the front row in Superpole, Biaggi was once again a force to be reckoned with in the races as he diced with the leaders on each occasion.

Providing much of the entertainment in race one as he fought to keep a determined Noriyuki Haga behind him in the battle for second position, a wrong gear at the 180 turn would eventually allow the Ducati rider through, forcing him to settle for third.

“I give it my best but I saw that Ben [Spies] could do high 38s in the warm-up and that was very difficult for us. During the first part of the race I pushed hard and had a good tyre, I was fast in some parts of the track, but not in others. Overall I was near the maximum.

Then I made a mistake when Nori came by after I put in a wrong gear, but overall Aprilia and myself made a very good race.”

Resuming his battle with Haga in race two, albeit this time for the lead, Biaggi's hopes of getting on terms with him were scuppered by his rival's consistent pace right to the chequered flag.

Nonetheless, despite missing out on a chance to add to his Brno victory, Biaggi was delighted a seventh and eighth podium of the season.

“I'm very happy - it was a very hard race,” he added. “From the beginning everyone was fast, the top four or five were at a very similar pace. I had a good rhythm, so I followed Nori but he looked very confident and I was wondering if he could keep the pace until the end. I got my answer because he was still lapping well!

“At the start of the race someone ran off the track and a big stone broke my window and I was worried that the radiator was broken. I started to push again, so for me it was a good race.”

Biaggi's results have now moved him to fourth in the overall standings, 14 points ahead of Jonathan Rea.