Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542726
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 21, 2026 P131 Notably, all but Lorenzo and Stoner are still racing for the final honor in a well-loved class. Time to place bets. And given last year's return to basically unbeatable form, don't expect to get good odds on Marc. He's the favorite by far, for me and surely everyone else. He didn't win every race last year, but he was only actually beaten in a straight fight once. By his younger brother. But all sport can be unpre - dictable, and motorcycle racing even more than most (just ask last year's defending champion Jorge Martin, who missed most of the season through a string of crashes and injuries. And Marc, for that matter, who endured five wilderness years before the fairytale comeback in 2025.) So who else? Choose with your head, and Martin must be up there. He is devastatingly fast and deter - mined. But that's off the form book and on past performance only, because of his prolonged 2025 absences, and not a single race fully fit and up to speed on the Aprilia that he crashed after just meeting it for the first time. Go with results, and his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi, who shone late last season in a surge to third overall, looks pretty tasty. Likewise, runner-up Alex Marquez, who also took three wins, as he emerged from the shadows. Less flashy than Bez - zecchi, but more consistent. And can we really believe that two-time winner and double champion Bagnaia's ghastly slump can continue? (Matter of fact, I do believe it … but that's just me.) Choose with your heart—and why not?—and it's Bagnaia again. He's a proven talent, and you do have to feel sorry for him. Or one of KTM's underdogs: Pedro Acosta. The former Moto3 and Moto2 champion is clearly super-talented but has yet to achieve a first MotoGP win. And how about Fabio Quartar - aro? Talented enough for serial poles, but his Yamaha serially outpaced in the races. A real sen - timental choice, which brings us to the other side of the equation. Which bike will be good enough? Yamaha's new 1000cc V4 makes its race debut for just one year of competition. It would be a miracle for it to be competitive straight off the drawing board. Can miracles happen? In this context, don't think so. But the biggest question con - cerns Ducati. The Desmosedici remained the pick of the bunch last year—but not in a straight- forward way. The GP25 iteration worked okay for genius Marc, but it was no step forward for Bagnaia or satellite rider Fabio Di Giannantonio, inconsistent in the extreme. It was the year-old GP24 that reliably excelled, for Alex as well as race-winning rookie Fermin Aldeguer. This year, Aldeguer will be "rewarded" with one of the iffy GP25s, while both Alex and Diggia escape that fate to join Marc and Bagnaia on the GP26. But can resident genius Gigi Dall'Igna and his team regain the initiative lost last year? Rivals will be agog to see if Ducati's 1000cc swansong will avoid the small but subtle mis - steps of the GP25. Those rivals need to avoid missteps of their own. Aprilia must sustain its own strong improvement from last season, when its bike emerged from a now-and-then star on smooth and rhythmic circuits to a potential winner at other circuits as well. KTM needs to do more than sustain, after a year when prog - ress was clearly not to the level required to keep up. KTM could blame the financial problems that threatened the team's very existence, but there will be no room for excuses this year. This just leaves the potential surprises. Number one: Honda. The rate of improvement last year could see the big H winning races this season, though the thought of a title to bookend the 1000s is a bit far-fetched. Finally, potentially the most surprising of all. Toprak Razgatlioglu. Learning a new class on the all-new V4 Yamaha, the Turk will need all the help veteran teammate Jack Miller can give him if he can live up to some people's expectations. CN