Cycle News In The Paddock
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Winners and Losers in the MotoGP Job Market
There is little comfort for medium-good grand prix riders when they reach a certain age.
Medium-good is not meant to be pejorative. Any rider able to compete in the premier world championship is clearly extremely talented. There are very few exceptions to this, and certainly none in the current fevered climate of ultra-close competition with ever-shrinking margins.
But with a conveyor belt of newcomers pushing through, and a brave new world of revised and (supposedly) upgraded MotoGP starting next year, there are inevitably some casualties.
The problem is the presence of rampant genius, mainly represented at the moment by Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta. With them around, even the exceptionally talented only get an occasional chance at winning. Until they run out of time.
We’re looking at the likes of GP winners like Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Jack Miller, three guys whose 2026 results have been pretty severely impacted by less-than-competitive bikes (KTM and Yamaha) and who are facing the chance of being jobless next year. Or, of having to go to World Superbikes, which in the ever more rarified realms of MotoGP is more or less the same thing.
The transfer season is up and running, belatedly after contract wrangles between the manufacturers and MotoGP. While deals had been made behind closed doors, announcements were held in abeyance awaiting confirmation that there actually would be a series starting next year.
Since the cheesy announcement of that contract at the Czech Republic GP, there has been a flurry of announcements, mostly confirming what was already known. And there are some tasty surprises for the new 850cc era.
We have Marquez Senior joined at Ducati by Acosta, the old master versus the expected new. There’s Bezzecchi at Aprilia with Bagnaia, who has turned his back on Ducati after eight years and being supplanted by Marquez.
Fabio Quartararo is aiming for redemption at Honda, after a five-year slump with a declining Yamaha. He’s gambling on HRC recovering from their own slump, a process which has already begun rather encouragingly.
It’s an even bigger gamble for Jorge Martin and this year’s revelation Ai Ogura, abandoning ultra-competitive Aprilia for Yamaha. They must be getting paid a lot. And chancy too for Alex Marquez and Ducati’s current top rider Fabio Di Giannantonio, heading across the Alps to join somewhat beleaguered KTM.
One theory about the tech changes, smaller engines, lighter bikes, less aero and banned ride-height devices, is that it will be “more skill-based.” Should this prove true, then the gamblers might find life easier than it looks at the moment. Though leveling up rules have in the past seldom worked as intended, and there is always one or sometimes two makes that do most of the winning.
But that is no comfort for the three riders named above. Nor to other previous race-winners facing career slide. Step forward Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and former Moto2 Champion Franco Morbidelli. Plus, the unobtrusive but excellent Luca Marini, who, unlike them, has never won a MotoGP race but is exceptionally consistent and reliable. And by the way, Pedro Acosta is also yet to win in MotoGP. There may be salvation for the first- and last-named, but they’re still queuing up at the job center, hoping for the best.
There’s another category left clinging on to hope rather than certainty: race-winning Moto2 riders who have made the mistake of not being Spanish or young.
Actually, Manuel Gonzalez is plenty Spanish, but at 23 he’s an old man in the class. Only four of 28 riders on the grid are older. The Captain Scarlet lookalike, a former Supersport 300 World Champion, narrowly missed the Moto2 title last year and looks set to run away with it this year. But it’s apparently not enough to earn a secure place on the MotoGP grid, to the puzzlement of all.
The other in the hopeful category is his Australian teammate Senna Agius, a redoubtable rider, but also only penciled in for a MotoGP move. Bizarrely, his nationality might turn out to be an advantage, as MotoGP seeks to reinforce international appeal. Sadly, there are currently no obvious American candidates to do the same for the USA.
Meanwhile, young Moto2 Spaniards Danny Holgado and Izan Guevara, and Spanish-born “Colombian” David Alonso are headed straight in with Ducati, Yamaha and Honda seats.
Well, nobody’s career goes on forever. Even Valentino Rossi had to stop at some point, although Marc Marquez’s latest renewal is for two more years, by which time he will be 35, and Bagnaia’s new Aprilia contract is for a remarkable four years, taking him to 33. There will be plenty of young riders dismayed by this.
Racing can be a cruel business, in more ways than just the obviously injurious. Talent is not necessarily enough. But to be fair, it certainly helps. CN
