Stronger competition? Did Marquez run against Stoner? No. Did Marquez run against Pedrosa on his best form? No. Did Marquez run against Lorenzo in his best form? Unlikely. You may speak whatever you want but Rossi had the fiercest competition MotoGP has ever had! He went against Stoner at his peak, Lorenzo at his peak, Pedrosa at his peak and even Marquez himself. No way dude. Marquez main rival during years was the "incredible" Andrea Dovizioso. C'mon...
When did Rossi win a championship against Lorenzo at his peak? Are we suggesting that Lorenzo was at his peak at 21 and 22 respectively? Or like most athletes are we suspecting that Lorenzo was actually at his best in his mid to late 20s. The years Marquez dominated.
Pedrosa was at a similar level for Rossi's titles and Marquez's earlier titles, that is undeniable.
Rossi himself was strong competition, arguably stronger than anyone he beat for the title from 01-05.
I am not sure where you get the idea that athletes or riders just fall off a cliff the moment they hit 30 without significant injuries. Doohan was 34 for his last championship, he likely would have won in 2000 if not for a career ending crash. Rainey 30, 31 and 32 for his trio of titles. Steady Eddie was 31 for his last title. Ago was 33 for his final title.
Rossi has a losing h2h record against Stoner and Lorenzo. He has 2 championship wins to 0 against Pedrosa but their race victories are actually very similar. Marquez on the other hand dominated Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Rossi himself. Of the 4 great riders Rossi himself faced, Rossi has a losing h2h record against 3 of them.
Dovi may have been his strongest competition from 17-19 but lets take a quick look at that one. 17 was close no doubt, in 2018 Marquez won by 76 points, roughly 3 races despite being taken out in Australia through no fault of his own, and crashing in the last race. The next year he won by a whopping 151 points or 6 race wins, finishing below second once, when he crashed out of the race. In those 3 years, the Ducati was the best bike on the grid, followed by the Yamaha. You could argue that the Suzuki was better in 19 & 19 but the bikes were probably more or less evenly matched.
Then we can talk about bikes.
From 2013 to 2015, 2 years where Marquez was done with a control tyre. From 2016 to the present there has been both control electronics and control tyres, measure that have made the field far more even than they had ever been previously.
In Rossi’s title years from 2001 until 2005 he was supplied what is infamously known as Saturday Night Specials. These tyres were only available to certain riders and by comments made by other riders, during that era they also favoured Rossi’s preferences. Which from a business standpoint makes sense, he was the biggest name in the sport. It was in the best interests or Michelin to favour what he wanted over others. Rossi was famously beaten by Tony Elias because Elias was able to use Pedrosa’s discarded SNS after he said they were too hard for his style.
What becomes even more interesting IMO is that once SNS were banned for both the 06&07 season Rossi went from a dominant 11 win, 16 podium season championship season and not finishing off the podium to 5 wins and 10 podiums in 2006. Still great numbers by most metrics but poor compared to the season before. In 2007 Rossi won ‘only’ 4 races and managed 8 podiums.
In 08 Rossi demanded Bridgestone, despite having a contract with Michelin. Bridgestone publicly stated that they had no interest in supplying Rossi at that time. Rossi ends up getting the tyres that he wants. This is important because not only did he get level playing ground with Stoner, going by Rossi’s and Stoners’ comments that Bridgestone began to favour Rossi and the Yamaha over Stoner and Ducati. Stoner requested to go back to the 07 tyres but was denied. No other rider, is allowed to switch tyre brands before or during the season and has their contract enforced. Rossi returns to form in 08, winning 9 races and getting 16 podiums.
Bridgestone of course end up being the sole supplier for the 09 season. Which I am sure had nothing to do with them deciding they could in fact supply Rossi tyres in 08. In what IMO is Rossi’s best championship he manages to take 6 wins, well down on his other average title winning years and takes an impressive 13 podiums. His main competition in Stoner is dealing with illness and a bike that is ...., especially so on a new control tyre which heavily favours the Japanese style bikes. Lorenzo in his second year but first year on Bridgestone runs 2nd about 40 points behind. Realistically Lorenzo crashes too much to be a serious threat that year though. Lorenzo does give Rossi enough of a scare though they he essentially tells Yamaha that it is him or Lorenzo. Rossi never wins another title.
It boils down to this IMO. Right now, if you want to base the GOAT of statistics only with no context then Ago is your GOAT. If like many Rossi fans do, you point to Ago’s competition and machinery advantages to say Rossi is greater than Ago you have a good argument. The issue is that same argument proves that Marquez despite having fewer wins and one less title is greater than Rossi because of his competition and lack of machinery advantages compared to others.
