Mat Oxley: ‘MotoGP riders all seem to be mates. But that may be about to change’

Sport is all about rivalry, so what happens if all the competitors in your favourite motor sport championship are now friends with each other?

A few years ago MotoGP endured (or enjoyed, depending on your point of view) some of its most vicious rivalries. And most of them involved Valentino Rossi.

Rossi was a genius at wooing fans – smiling and waving at the camera, like MotoGP was just a game to him. That’s what made people love him so much. And yet while he waved with one hand, he was sharpening knives with the other. Rossi’s bitter rivalries with his toughest opponents defined MotoGP for a decade and a half.

First, there was Max Biaggi. Their rivalry peaked with a punch-up following the 2001 Catalan Grand Prix, won by Rossi despite a disastrous start. Biaggi finished second.

The pair were climbing the stairs to the podium anteroom when it all kicked off. Biaggi managed to headbutt Rossi’s team manager and land one punch on his nemesis, who whacked Biaggi in the face.

When they arrived at the post-race media conference the place was buzzing with rumours of what had just happened. One journalist asked Biaggi about the graze on his face. “A mosquito bit me,” he replied.

Of course, MotoGP management huffed and puffed about the furore, while quietly delighting in the booming TV viewing figures.

Rossi’s subsequent foes included Sete Gibernau, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and finally Marc Márquez. He was a genius at mind games, destabilising his rivals away from the track and then dismantling them on track. (Usually, but not always).

Rossi’s reign as Yamaha’s number one came to an end when young-gun team-mate Lorenzo started regularly beating him in 2010. The team wasn’t big enough for the both of them, so Rossi defected to Ducati.

One of their last races as team-mates was that year’s Japanese Grand Prix, when Lorenzo was a few points away from clinching his first MotoGP crown. During the final stages of the race they fought a vicious battle for third – the last place in the post-race champagne party – colliding at least once.

Yamaha management certainly weren’t happy, because if Lorenzo had been hurt the title might have gone to rivals Honda, so they called Rossi into their circuit office for an official reprimand.

“What did they say?!” asked the expectant media afterwards.

“They asked me to race with more attention,” Rossi grinned. “So next time I will try to beat him again… with more attention!”

Most fans (and some journalists) always sided with Rossi, whether he was right or wrong, because he was the sport’s biggest star. Things have been different since the Italian stopped racing bikes at the end of 2021. All the riders seem to be mates with each other, even though the racing is more brutal than ever, which means lots of incidents and accidents. Usually, riders say little or nothing when they get taken out by rivals, instead quietly planning to take their revenge at a later date.

This is partly a psychological response. The pressure in MotoGP is particularly heavy, so riders try not to waste any energy on arguments, especially because social media blows even the tiniest disagreement out of all proportion, costing riders valuable mental and emotional space. And yet maybe MotoGP is about to change again.

Jorge Martin, last year’s runner-up, is one of a few riders saying they’re fed up with all the mateyness. After all, MotoGP is a 220mph fight between a bunch of “axe murderers” – the words of three-time MotoGP race winner Cal Crutchlow, who was with Honda 2015-20.

“I guess I have a killer mentality,” says Martin. “What I’ve learned over the years in MotoGP is that people here aren’t your friends. I don’t need to be friends with Pecco [Bagnaia], Marc, Marco [Bezzecchi] or with anyone. I just want to beat them.

“If I can say something to put some pressure on my rivals, or to make them nervous, I will do it, because I think it will help me, but also, they can do the same to me! It’s better if we are enemies – like Valentino and Lorenzo were: one against the other.”

MotoGP’s next big thing – if you believe all the hype – thinks the same way. Reigning Moto2 world champion Pedro Acosta was only 19 when he made his MotoGP debut at this year’s season-opening Qatar GP, but he’s already talking big.

“Riders are all laughing with each other. I don’t like this”

“We have lost something – you don’t see friction between the riders,” says Acosta. “They are all laughing with each other. I don’t like this – we have to fight! I like Conor McGregor [the outspoken Irish former Ultimate Fighting champion]. McGregor knew he was the best and he said so. I miss the time when Valentino fought with Jorge and Marc. That was real sport and we have to get back to that time, because the fans need to enjoy the racing.”

Martin also takes inspiration from McGregor. No surprise there because he looks like a cage-fighter – super-muscly, with lots of ink, including McGregor’s words – “We’re not just here to take part, we’re here to take over” – tattooed on his left arm.

“When he said that sentence I got obsessed with it and had the tattoo. I feel like racing is a war – it’s like going into battle.

Mat Oxley has covered motorcycle racing for many years – and also has the distinction of being an Isle of Man TT winner
Follow Mat on Twitter @matoxley