 With Crivillé winning his first ever 500cc title in 1999, expectations were high that Crivillé would do the same in 2000.However, the new NSR500 bike for 2000 proved to be worse than its predecessor last year, with Crivillé frequently struggling all throughout the season as a result.A fifth place at the opening round in South Africa made him the best of the Repsol Honda riders, with Sete Gibernau and Tadayuki Okada both out of the race.