Neil Hodgson picks 24-point rider over Alex Marquez as MotoGP’s surprise of the year, he can ‘walk on water’

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Alex Marquez enters this weekend’s French Grand Prix as MotoGP’s championship leader. Before 2025, he’d never even won a race.

Though he’d previously won the title in Moto3 and Moto2, Marquez had a reputation as an inconsistent rider. He hadn’t fully shaken off the accusation that he was only in the premier class because of his brother.

This wasn’t helped by the Spaniard losing his factory Honda ride at the end of his first season and dropping to satellite LCR. Across his first five MotoGP campaigns, he never managed more than two podiums in a single year.

In 2025, he’s already scored four. Where consistency was previously his undoing, it’s now his greatest strength – no rider has sprayed the champagne more often this year.

In Jerez, he finally entered the winners’ circle, capitalising on his brother’s fall. While there was an element of misfortune, he pulled off a brave pass on Fabio Quartararo for the lead and held his own assuredly thereafter – Marquez even waved to the crowd on the last lap, a sign of his comfort.

Neil Hodgson raves about the ‘different’ Maverick Vinales he’s seen at Tech3

Despite that, TNT Sports pundit Neil Hodgson overlooked Marquez for the ‘surprise of the year’ award during the coverage of French GP practice. Instead, it jointly goes to Ai Ogura and Maverick Vinales.

Ogura has been the highest-scoring rookie so far in 2025, with his 37 points good enough for eighth in the championship. His P5 in Thailand was the best result for a debutant since Marc Marquez in 2013.

Vinales, meanwhile, is only 15th in the standings, but he would be in the top eight himself had he not lost a Qatar GP podium for a tyre pressure breach. The stirring ride to second place remains his individual highlight.

Hodgson thought Vinales’ career was ‘winding down’ when he exchanged an Aprilia factory deal for a KTM satellite gig. But he says Top Gun is eliminating his tendency to ‘go missing’ this year.

“For me, and I genuinely mean this, as well as Ai Ogura, Vinales has been my surprise, standout of the year,” he said. “I thought, well, ‘He’s off to another manufacturer, he’s off to KTM, not the main team, he’s winding down his career’.

“I didn’t expect him to come out fighting like he has done. He has that beautiful, flowing riding style. Sometimes Maverick can just walk on water.

“He can go missing for a few rounds, but this year it just feels a bit different.”

Maverick Vinales has ‘never’ before experienced what Tech3 have given him in 2025

Vinales made a steady start at Tech3, scoring only six points in the first three weekends. But he made a major leap in Qatar, where he qualified sixth.

Last time out in Jerez, he recovered admirably from the disappointment of his Lusail penalty. Starting from the second row once again, he bagged a season-best fourth place.

Former KTM boss Francesco Guidotti targeted Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez over Vinales. But the Austrian manufacturer’s faith in the 10-time winner was justified.

Vinales has told Herve Poncharal that he’s ‘never’ felt so good on a MotoGP bike, a more positive appraisal of the RC16 than any of his fellow riders have given. He outclassed the coveted Pedro Acosta in Spain, though the youngster did later undergo surgery to relieve arm discomfort.