Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez is very rarely beaten. Since he made it to MotoGP, only two riders have defeated the Spaniard over a full season.
Jorge Lorenzo beat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi to the title in 2015, with Marquez finishing third. Nine years later, rider #93 picked up another bronze medal as he trailed Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.
In 2024, Marquez could point to a difference in specification – he rode Ducati’s GP23 while his competitors were on up-to-date machinery. For the first four years of the decade, he wasn’t fully fit.
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Taking injuries out of the equation, Marquez’s 100% top-three record stretches back to the 2009 season, when he was riding in the 125cc class (now Moto3).
Julian Simon never reached MotoGP despite winning a Grand Prix title
Marquez needed time to show his potential when he broke into Grand Prix racing. In his first year, he only finished 13th.
He made a step forward in year two by cracking the top 10, but he couldn’t reach the level of his fellow Spaniard, Julian Simon.
Simon was, it’s worth noting, far more experienced at that point, having been racing Grand Prix bikes since 2002. He clinched his first title in 2009 at the age of 22 after racking up seven wins and 12 podiums from 16 starts.
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It was a high-quality field that also included Marquez, Pol Espargaro, Andrea Iannone, Stefan Bradl and Johann Zarco. Simon earned a promotion to Moto2 on the back of his success and immediately finished as the runner-up to Toni Elias.
He was well on course to become a MotoGP star when he suffered a triple leg break in Barcelona. While the injury only kept him out for three weekends, he never regained top form.
Simon remained in Moto2 until 2017 but only scored four more podiums in that time as his premier-class dreams faded.
Julian Simon once started celebrating before a race had finished
During that 2009 title-winning season, Simon threw away a victory in Barcelona in remarkable fashion. He crossed the line thinking that he had won the race, but there was a lap to go.
By the time a celebrating Simon realised that he had made an error, he had already dropped outside the podium places as Iannone snatched the win.
Simon would go on to become a rider coach at Yamaha, working with riders like Maverick Vinales and 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo.
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