Greatest MotoGP Riders of All Time

Fifteen world championships, eight of them at 500cc between 1966 and 1975, are more than any rider has managed. His 122 Grand Prix wins also lead the all-time list, and the 1975 title on a Yamaha made him the first 500cc champion on a two-stroke.

Nine world titles across four classes and 115 Grand Prix wins, second only to Agostini's 122. He left Honda for a Yamaha that had gone winless through 2003 and took victory first time out at Welkom, which settled the machine-versus-rider argument on the spot.

Seven premier class titles and nine overall, the seventh won with Ducati in 2025 after four seasons disrupted by the right arm he broke at Jerez in 2020. He took the 2013 crown at 20, the youngest premier class champion and the first rookie to win it since Kenny Roberts in 1978.

Five consecutive 500cc championships from 1994 to 1998 with Honda, a run that included 12 wins from 15 rounds in 1997. A crash at Assen in 1992 nearly cost him his right leg, and he raced afterwards with a thumb-operated rear brake.

Hailwood won nine world championships between 1961 and 1967 across 250cc, 350cc and 500cc, along with 76 Grand Prix victories and 14 Isle of Man TT wins. He returned to the TT in 1978 after eleven years away and won the Formula One race on a Ducati.

Between 1956 and 1960 Surtees took seven motorcycle world titles with MV Agusta, four in the 500cc class and three at 350cc, then won the 1964 Formula One championship with Ferrari. Nobody else has won world championships on two wheels and four.

Four premier class titles in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1989, the last of them with Honda in the season straight after winning on a Yamaha. Consistency rather than raw pace defined the method, and only Rossi has since repeated that back-to-back switch of manufacturers.

Duke won six world titles between 1951 and 1955, and the 1951 season delivered the first 350cc and 500cc double by a single rider. He also introduced the one-piece leather racing suit, cutting drag at a time when riders wore separate jacket and trousers.

Lorenzo took five world championships, three in MotoGP with Yamaha in 2010, 2012 and 2015 plus 250cc crowns in 2006 and 2007. At Assen in 2013 he flew to Barcelona to have a broken collarbone plated, returned inside 48 hours and finished fifth in the race.

Three straight 500cc titles from 1978 to 1980, the first of them taken as a rookie and the first by any American. His dirt-track sliding style reset road racing technique, and the World Series breakaway he backed in 1979 forced organisers to move on safety and prize money.

Yamaha carried Rainey to three consecutive 500cc championships from 1990 to 1992, won during the deepest era of American Grand Prix racing. He was leading the 1993 standings when a crash at Misano left him paralysed, closing a career at 24 premier class wins.

Back-to-back 500cc titles in 1976 and 1977 with Suzuki are still the last won by a British rider. He came back from a Daytona tyre failure in 1975 at close to 175 mph, then from a 1982 Silverstone crash that broke both his legs.

Two MotoGP titles, the 2007 crown that gave Ducati its first premier class championship and the 2011 title in his opening year at Repsol Honda. He retired at 27, having won his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island six years in a row.

MotoGP champion in 2022 and 2023, the first Ducati rider to win the premier class since Stoner in 2007. The 2022 title was recovered from 91 points behind Quartararo, the largest deficit ever overturned in the class, and he had taken Moto2 in 2018.

No rider had won world championships in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc classes until Read, who collected seven titles in all and took the 125 and 250 crowns together in 1968. His premier class years came at MV Agusta, where he beat teammate Agostini in 1973 and retained the title in 1974.

One world title, taken with Suzuki in 1993, sits alongside 25 premier class wins and the rivalry with Rainey that shaped the early nineties. His number 34 was withdrawn from circulation after he stopped racing in 1995.

The 2006 championship, settled at Valencia when Rossi crashed and Hayden came home third, made him the final champion of the 990cc era. He had arrived in Grand Prix racing as the 2002 AMA Superbike champion, the youngest to hold that title at the time.

Winning the 2024 title on Pramac's Ducati made him the first rider from an independent team to take the premier class in the MotoGP era. Sprint results decided it, since Bagnaia won more Grands Prix that year. Martin had already won Moto3 in 2018.

Thirty-one MotoGP victories is the biggest premier class total held by any rider who never won that championship. Pedrosa's titles came earlier, at 125cc in 2003 and 250cc in 2004 and 2005, and three runner-up finishes were as close as he got before turning KTM test rider.