Top 10 MotoGP rider moves of the MotoGP era.

I read the OP as rider moves in the MotoGP era that creates waves. That would make the moves by the biggest talents sit at the top.
So moves by Marquez, Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo. The other moves are ripples to their waves.

Marquez and Stoner, being the two best, and only moving twice (so far) has therefore got to be the biggest.
Interestingly both riders have the same teams involved - HRC and Ducati Corse.
Rightly so, they are the bikes that have been the best in the MotoGP era, with each having a slice of that timespan.

I personally would call Stoner's Ducati switch and the following championship the biggest wave.
It cemented his personal status, and made the European brands believe that they could end the Japanese dominance.
It spurred Borgo Panigale's search for the holy grail that Stones showed them existed.
The reason behind Dall'Igna joining them, and with him the aero wars begun and it changed the whole championship in a fundemental fashion.

The second biggest, in my mind, was how HRC nicked Marquez. That move was the start of their beautiful era, dominanting like never before.
And it led them into a cul-de-sac that destroyed their image as the leading racing motorcycle brand.
It would be difficult to take someone seriously if they at the end of 2019 would predict that HRC would be outperformed by every other team for more than half a decade.
That they would effectively end the career of another world champion, force their biggest star rider to leave them, and fall so far behind on development that even when they can test without restrictions, they would need to use second tier riders. Plus having a Japanese rider joining an American start up team, rather then Honda...

KTM seems more consistent than Aprilia. Where Aprilia is strong it is stronger than KTM and where Aprilia is weak it is weaker than KTM

#22 said:

Except that he was Ducati's 3rd (and last?) choice for a rider. So much so, I think he was paid pennies on the dollar and his dad negotiated a huge win bonus in his contract. Had they got Melandri or Hayden, their number 1 and 2 choices, the MotoGP landscape would be much different now.

Well yes, they were total failures, but did Zarco's failure cause KTM to totally redesign their bike and later dominate the sport? Not really. Zarco's failure is under the same umbrella as Melandri's failure at Ducati, or countless other riders who have failed to gel with a different brand.

I have Rossi's move to Ducati as #7 because of this. But thinking about it, you make a very good point. Rossi likely moved to Ducati because he thought the bike was more competitive than it was.


Exactly. Rossi wanted the Bridgestone because he thought it was a significant portion of Stoners success, and he get them. This lead to other top riders getting them, and eventually us being left with a single tyre supplier. What direction would Ducati have taken had Michelin agreed to supply them from 2009 onwards? How would a tyre war have affected the landscape of the 2010's?

Loving this discussion!

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Whether it was the reason or part of the reason for Stoner’s success, the smart move from Rossi was being able to hijack development of the tyre to suit the Yamaha and Honda over the Ducati, which was never able to fully recover until after the arrival of Gigi. I’m doubtful that Rossi understood how difficult the Ducati was to ride, and viewed the stones as a pure advantage, rather than removing Ducati’s ability to have a tyre tailored to their bike.

I would argue that in 2007/8, he didn't care about the Ducati. His focus was, like you pointed out. On getting Bridgestones.