Three ex-racers choose between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi as the MotoGP GOAT

The subject of MotoGP’s greatest ever riders generally includes a number of names from across the decades, but only two from grand prix racing’s four-stroke era: Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.

Both serial winners, the two competed alongside each other for long enough for one of the sport’s bitterest rivalries to develop, even if they rarely battled each other in the second half of the period in which they both took to the MotoGP grid.

Deciding between them is difficult, because Marc Marquez has fewer numbers but is yet to finish winning grands prix; because Valentino Rossi had an almost impossibly long career but Marquez has arguably faced more adversity; and because of the perception of the strength of the field that each rider has done their winning in.

In a feature from TNT Sports, Cal Crutchlow joined two of the broadcaster’s rider-turned-analysts – Neil Hodgson and James Toseland – to decide between them who is the greatest ever with the primary candidates being Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi.

Crutchlow immediately pointed to Marquez’s braking ability as his standout quality as a rider.

“His [Marquez] control of the front brake was my biggest thing,” said Crutchlow, who raced alongside Marquez as Honda MotoGP rider – albeit in the satellite LCR Honda team – between 2015 and 2019 (Marquez was injured for almost all of 2020).

“When he’s braking, the front is locking a lot, but he played with the brake lever a lot into the corner.

“Marc [Marquez] figured out that the more you lean the bike into the corner, the more deceleration you get with the bike – which is completely true.

“But if you’re locking the front wheel, the first thing you do is pick the bike up, that’s a natural instinct. Marc was the opposite, he leaned more.

“To be able to figure that out… Nobody else could do it.”

For James Toseland, who works on TNT Sports’ World Superbike coverage as co-commentator, it was Rossi’s ability to capture the imagination of fans that made him stand out from other serial winners in the sport’s history.

“More than riding styles, more than victories, more than championship wins, this is a show,” Toseland said.

“It will be a long time before anyone beats the showman of Valentino [Rossi] and what he brought to the sport off the track and off the bike, as well as his riding style and everything on the bike.”

He added: “Television got more involved in broadcasting motorcycle racing, and just as television upped their game there was a Valentino Rossi in the late-1990s. He was just gold.”

Typically, the debate for the ‘greatest of all time’ in a sport breaks down to the conclusion that, since two competitors never competed against each other, it’s impossible to say who was actually better.

Neil Hodgson, though, highlighted that, with Marquez and Rossi, this point doesn’t stand, because they raced against each other between 2013 and 2021.

“Let’s not forget, they raced against each other,” Hodgson said.

“Marc came in as a rookie in 2013, with no experience on a MotoGP bike, and beat Valentino Rossi.

“It’s not like they did just one year.

“Rossi was not done in 2013, 2014, he almost won the title in 2015 – we won’t talk about that.

“But they raced against each other, and who won seven or eight times out of ten? Marc Marquez did.

“Was he on a better bike? 2013 he probably was, 2014 potentially, but 2015 the bike wasn’t.

“That’s why, for me, Marc steals it from Valentino. Is Marc Marquez the greatest of all time? I’m saying he is.”

Crutchlow agreed with Hodgson’s opinion, whereas Toseland found it more difficult to position Marquez clearly above the greats from the sport’s past.

“I can’t put my hand up for Valentino and Ago [Agostini] and Nieto and Mike Hailwood, I can’t,” the two-time World Superbike Champion said.

“But he’s equal to the greatest with what he’s done and what he’s been through.”