Who are the best MotoGP riders ever? Ask a group of fans and you will get different answers.
Rossi fans will make their case. Older fans will bring up Agostini, Hailwood or Doohan. There is no perfect answer, especially when the World Championship has been running since 1949 and the sport has changed so much.
So let’s use the one thing every rider wants more of: wins.
6. Mick Doohan, 54 Wins
Mick Doohan was tough. There is really no other way to put it.
The Australian spent years battling through injuries while racing in the brutal 500cc era. He also had Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz to deal with. That was not exactly an easy group to beat on a Sunday afternoon.
But Doohan kept coming back. Then he went on a run that turned him into a champion.
He won five consecutive 500cc World Championships from 1994 to 1998. He also finished with 54 Grand Prix victories. And here is the bit that really jumps out. All 54 came in the 500cc class.
There were no wins picked up across a bunch of different categories. Doohan did it on those terrifying 500cc machines. When things got tough, he just kept going. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” could almost be the motto of his career.
5. Jorge Lorenzo, 60 Wins
Jorge Lorenzo was fun to watch when he got everything right.
He had this incredible rhythm on the bike. Lap after lap, he would hit his marks and keep the pace. Nothing looked rushed. Then you would check the timing screen and realize he had pulled away.
Lorenzo won 60 Grand Prix races, including 38 in MotoGP. Before that, he won back-to-back 250cc World Championships in 2006 and 2007.
His MotoGP titles came in 2010, 2012 and 2015. And he had to fight some serious competition for them. Valentino Rossi was across the garage at one point. Marc Márquez was coming through too.
Lorenzo did not need to turn every corner into a wrestling match. He could simply ride his race and make everyone else chase him. “Slow and steady wins the race” sounds funny when talking about MotoGP, but there was definitely something to it with Lorenzo.
4. Mike Hailwood, 76 Wins
Mike Hailwood is one of those names that makes you wish you could go back in time and watch him race properly.
The British rider was known as “Mike the Bike.” Once you look at what he achieved, you can see why.
Hailwood won 76 Grand Prix races, including 37 in the 500cc class. But he was not tied to one category. He raced motorcycles with different engine sizes and later competed in cars.
That ability to jump between machines and still be fast was something else. He was a proper “jack of all trades.”
Sadly, we never got to see how much further his career could have gone. Hailwood passed away in a road accident in Warwickshire in 1981. He was only 40 years old.
3. Ángel Nieto, 90 Wins
Ángel Nieto is probably the most debated name on this list of the best MotoGP riders.
Most of his wins came in the smaller classes. He raced in the 50cc, 80cc and 125cc categories and never won a 250cc Grand Prix. So yes, some fans will question where he belongs on a list like this.
Then you look at the record.
Ninety Grand Prix wins. Thirteen World Championships.
Suddenly, the argument gets a lot harder.
Nieto spent 22 years racing internationally. He kept winning and built a huge reputation in the lightweight classes. He knew how to get the most out of his machines, and he did it again and again.
You can argue about the class. You cannot argue with 90 wins. “Actions speak louder than words,” and Nieto’s results speak pretty loudly.
2. Valentino Rossi, 112 Wins
This is probably the point where a lot of fans are shaking their heads.
“Rossi is second?”
For many people, Rossi is the answer. Full stop.
The No. 46 became part of MotoGP itself. You saw the yellow everywhere. You saw the celebrations. You saw the rivalries. And you saw millions of fans tune in just to find out what Rossi would do that weekend.
But the numbers are what really make his career special.
Rossi won nine World Championships, including seven premier-class titles. He also collected 112 Grand Prix victories. This makes Valentino Rossi one of the best MotoGP riders of all time.
And he stayed around for a long time. New riders came in. Bikes changed. Technology moved forward. Rossi kept finding ways to compete.
There were plenty of moments when fans thought he was done. Then he would surprise everyone again. That is Rossi in a nutshell. “Never say never.”
1. Giacomo Agostini, 122 Wins
Before Rossi became the face of MotoGP for millions of fans, there was Giacomo Agostini.
Known simply as “Ago,” the Italian won 122 Grand Prix races between 1966 and 1975. He raced in the 350cc and 500cc classes and won 15 World Championships.
Fifteen.
Read that number again. It is hard to believe even now.
Of course, Agostini raced in a completely different era. You cannot compare his motorcycle directly with Rossi’s or Lorenzo’s. The sport was another world back then.
But winning that much still tells you something. Agostini kept showing up and kept beating the riders around him. Rossi came close to the 122-win mark, but he never quite got there.
So Ago remains No. 1 in the list of best MotoGP riders of all time. His record is still there for someone to chase. And, knowing MotoGP, fans will be arguing about who can finally beat it for years to come.
