Can we start the arguing about Stoner / Rossi / Jorge / Dani / Marc / Rainey / Doohan / "insert name of ride here" back up please?
I've had nothing to read for the past two days
What do you want us to argue about?
Rossi can't win championships without either equipment advantages relative to the rest of the field, a nearly perfect bike, and/or tires that level the playing field.
Lorenzo became so reliant on the M1 and generating corner speed that he committed career suicide because he didn't want to deal with Rossi. I'm all for principled stands and getting as much money as you can, but had I been in his shoes, I would have at least considered was it really worth sacrificing the latter part of my career for this. At the end of the day winning is what keeps you relevant as a top rider, and not winning is turning Lorenzo into irrelevance. Mind you his best chance at winning a grand prix this season will be at the Red Bull Ring since it's just a bunch of a drag strips with corners. Of course that means Dovi will be in the running too, and it's hard to picture Lorenzo outperforming Dovi there, but stranger things have happened.
Pedrosa is another situational rider who needs the right chassis and tire combination on the GP bikes to be in the running week in and week out. That kind of gets lost on some with regards to the 2011-2013 period; the RC212V and RC213V of those years weren't yet having the issues that would start showing up in 2015 to present.
Marquez is the outlier in that he can win on anything and with two different tire manufacturers in spite of the current supplier being most decidedly not good for quality front tire design. That doesn't even take into account the electronics change that hurt Honda more than any of the other factories given the nature of the RCV. Sure the prior 3 have all won races on both Michelin and Bridgestone over the last several seasons, but have you ever thought they could sustain the performance over the duration of the season? Even Vinales who you can add into this conversation was doing great on the initial 2017 tire construction and then started falling back after the latest tire change.
They're all talented riders without question, but MM is the only one of the bunch who has proven he can weather the constant changes and perform in spite of not having a that perfect, or as close to perfect bike. If Honda can get back to providing a quality chassis with a quality engine, he's going to run over the field indefinitely.
The greatest strength a rider can possess in my opinion is adaptability, and while they can all adapt to varying degrees, MM is the only one of the current grid who can do it all the time...and can do it throughout the course of a single given race as Crutchlow mentioned recently. That's the link between MM, Stoner, Lawson, Rainey, and the other greats; that ability to transcend the bike itself and to deliver wins and titles in spite of whatever mechanical deficiencies are in play.
