Rennie Scaysbrook | January 25, 2023
Cycle News Lowside
COLUMN
The Number One Is Back
The build-up on social media has been relentless from MotoGP, Ducati Corse and Francesco Bagnaia himself. Will the new MotoGP king run the champion’s number during the 2023 season?
As it turns out, yes, he will.
And I, for one, am so happy he will. Bagnaia’s factory Ducati will have a glorious number one emblazoned across its front end, and it will be the first time we’ve seen it in MotoGP in more than a decade.
The Italian, clearly a bit of a purist, has bucked the (in my opinion) annoying trend of riders using their own personal number, regardless of the fact they happen to have won the biggest prize in motorcycling.
Bagnaia’s move to the number one is great for the sport, because it gives an identity to the hierarchy. These are the fastest riders in the world, and I feel one should be rightly proud of rising to the top. It also gives the team who got them there a few bragging rights in a sport where performance is so clearly linked to confidence and self-belief.
The number one was last seen during Casey Stoner’s final season in MotoGP with Repsol Honda back in 2012. Prior to that (and from 1970) it was Jorge Lorenzo in 2011, Stoner again in 2008, the late Nicky Hayden in 2007, Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2001, Alex Criville in 2000, Mick Doohan from 1995-1999, Kevin Schwantz in 1994, Wayne Rainey between 1991-1993, Eddie Lawson (1990, 1989, 1987, 1985), Wayne Gardner in 1988, Freddie Spencer (1986, 1984), Franco Uncini (1983) Marco Lucchinelli (1982), Kenny Roberts (1979-1981), Giacomo Agostini (1976, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970), and Phil Read (1975, 1974).
The first person to refuse the champion’s number over the last 50 years was famously Barry Sheene, the British 1976-1977 World Champion who stuck with his iconic number seven through thick and thin. This was an age when riders didn’t normally run one number across their entire career. Most would run the position they finished in the championship the year prior, which probably wasn’t a fun time if you were a four-time runner-up and had to constantly run the number two like Randy Mamola did in the 1980s.
Sheene was the prototype for Valentino Rossi, who never ran anything other than 46 for the duration of his grand prix career that started in the 125cc class in 1996 and finished with MotoGP in 2021. Nine times Rossi took the championship across the 125, 250, 500 and MotoGP categories, and nine times he refused to put the number one on his bike. His number 46 thus became the most recognizable in the history of the sport and the face of his global business empire that spans everything from creating apparel for a huge portion of the MotoGP grid to NFTs, gaming, car racing, and so much more.
There’s a mystique to the number one that even Rossi’s 46 can’t bring. I grew up idolizing Wayne Rainey and Mick Doohan, the two riders who ruled 500cc grand prix racing with an iron fist, each with a massive, unobstructed number one.
“The only thing that mattered to me was putting the number one on my bike,” Rainey said. “If it wasn’t number one, I didn’t care what number it was. Coming from flat track, my heroes all ran the number one. That showed you the best guy. When you look back at Kenny Roberts, Jay Springsteen, Bubba Shobert, the number one was hugely important. I won my first championship in 1983 with Kawasaki on the AMA Superbike and didn’t race in 1984, so I didn’t get to use the number. Then when I won it again in 1987 with Honda, I went to Europe for 1988, so I missed out again, so I thought about it for a long time. If I was ever going to get the number-one plate, it would have to be as World Champion.
“For myself, Mick [Doohan], Eddie [Lawson]… it was all about being World Champion and putting the number one on your bike. Lining up at the first race with that number let everyone know just who the best was, even if you were starting all over again for another year. And for the fans who are maybe just casual observers of the sport, as opposed to the die-hard fans, when they see the rider with the number one, there’s no doubt in their mind who the champion is.”
The respect that the number one brings is palpable, but it has often been a bit of a poisoned chalice for those who dare take it on.
Cast your minds back to Hayden’s year of number one in 2007. I’m sure the Kentucky Kid dreamed of having the number on his bike at the peak of the sport, but his year was nothing short of a disaster, as Honda brought out a bike clearly designed for Dani Pedrosa’s diminutive stature as the 800cc era kicked off. A trio of third places in Holland, Germany and the Czech Republic and eighth in the championship were all he had to show for it.
The respect that the number one brings is palpable, but it has often been a bit of a poisoned chalice for those who dare take it on.
It was even worse for Kenny Roberts Jr., who’s 2001 Suzuki RGV500 saw next to no development from the factory (sound familiar, Joan Mir?) with a solitary third at a wet Valencia race and 11th in the standings the final result.
It’s been a different story in WorldSBK, with riders more often than not opting for the number one. Alvaro Bautista is the latest champion to ride with the champion’s digit this year, joining Toprak Razgatlioglu last year, Jonathan Rea for the five years prior in his own Mick Doohan-esque performance, Sylvain Guintoli in 2015, Tom Sykes in 2014, and Max Biaggi in 2011 (Biaggi would later revert to his customary number three for his second WorldSBK title defense in 2013).
Bagnaia will have acres of pressure this year to retain the number one, not least of which will come from his new teammate, Enea Bastianini. But it’s always been so for the new champion, as they are the one everyone guns for, regardless of the number on their bike.
It’s a new year with new challenges and challengers, but as Rainey says, emphatically, “in racing, it’s all about being number one.” Bagnaia would do well to heed his advice. CN
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