finished second twice. In Brno, he missed out on the victory (which went to rookie Max Biaggi) but took the fastest lap, and in Imola Crivillé finished a distant 6.564 second behind teammate Doohan. At round twelve in Catalunya, Crivillé took his first and only pole of the season on Saturday, but crashed out on Sunday on the opening lap, which meant that he retired for the first time this year. A final third place podium arrived at the Australian round but another retirement followed at the final round in Argentina. Crivillé finished third in the championship with 198 points, 62 points behind the champion and teammate Mick Doohan and 10 points behind runner-up Max Biaggi. 1999 Few predicted that Crivillé could win the title in 1999 after Doohan took yet another world championship in 1998, but Doohan's career-ending crash opened the door for Crivillé, who now had a real opportunity at the title. At the opening round in Malaysia, Crivillé immediately took a podium in the form of third place at the new Sepang circuit. In Japan he finished a distant fourth while his teammate Doohan finished second. When five-time 500cc world champion and teammate Mick Doohan broke his leg in several places, but also his collarbone and wrist when he crashed during a very wet qualifying session at the Spanish Grand Prix, Crivillé immediately took the opportunity and set pole on Saturday. On Sunday, he battled with and held off Max Biaggi to take fastest lap and his first victory of the year by just 0.157 seconds in only his third race of the season. His good form continued in the next three races. In France, he took a commanding win ahead of John Kocinski and Tetsuya Harada, in Italy he held off Biaggi once again to score back-to-back wins and in Catalunya, he closed in on teammate Tadayuki Okada who was leading the race on the last lap, overtook him going into turn 10 (the "La Caixa" corner) and held off Okada (who had a better drive coming out of turn 13 or "New Holland") to claim a popular win by just 0.061 seconds. It was the first time Crivillé had won four races in succession in his career. At the Dutch GP, he registered his first retirement of the season, but followed it up with another win in his 100th 500cc start at Great Britain. With