Valencia marks end of MotoGP on British Eurosport
The final round of the 2013 MotoGP Championship this weekend will feature a title showdown between rookie Marc Marquez and Spanish compatriot Jorge Lorenzo.
It will also be the final time that Toby Moody and Julian Ryder commentate together on British Eurosport - the UK's MotoGP coverage moving to BT Sport next season - and the duo have fond memories of their time together at the channel.
"I joined when I was 23 in 1996 and went to the first race that year which was in Malaysia and I was put on a six race probation period and here I am 18 years later!" said Moody. "The highlights are being lucky enough to make lots of friends and of course to commentate with Julian."
"It's been a pleasure working with Toby all these years," Ryder added. "It feels like we've been working longer than I've been married! We have a wonderful long term relationship where I lead him to the things he's good at and he leads me to the things I'm good at.
"It's always been a pleasure working for Eurosport and working with people who are passionate about sport in general and MotoGP in particular. How can that be anything other than just fun?"
MotoGP has been broadcast on Eurosport in the UK for over 20 years.
Looking back on their time in the Eurosport booth, Moody and Ryder have chosen the 2006 Portuguese Grand Prix as their favourite MotoGP round and a replay of this race will follow the conclusion of the live Moto2 and Moto3 races at 12.25pm on British Eurosport 2 HD.
Arguably one the most dramatic races in MotoGP history, the penultimate round of the 2006 world championship was action-packed from start to finish, culminating in a three-way last lap tussle between Kenny Roberts, Valentino Rossi and Toni Elias.
"It was the best season that grand prix racing had for probably 20 years," said Moody. "It was the best era of grand prix racing and there was a lot of drama. Reigning champion Rossi was struggling through the year and Nicky Hayden was a bit of a paddock favourite. It was the underdog against the popular Rossi."
"It had everything you want in a race," commented Ryder. "Hayden had the championship lead and was torpedoed early in the race by his team-mate Dani Pedrosa. So we started the race with ludicrous drama and then had a wonderful race with three or four men dicing for the victory. Elias won it by 0.002 seconds and therefore took five points off Rossi which eventually decided the championship."
British Eurosport will continue to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the World Superbike, British Superbike and Speedway World Championships in 2014.
The BBC, having lost its exclusive live UK coverage of the MotoGP races to BT Sport, is yet to confirm if it will provide any form of coverage in 2014.
BT Sport, which is free to BT broadband customers and ?12 a month for non-broadband customers, is yet to reveal its MotoGP commentary team.
As it gears up for 2014, BT Sport has announced it will be covering the Valencia post-race test live on TV and online, from 1pm - 3pm on Monday and 10am - 1pm on Tuesday.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: "We believe that we can really develop the coverage of MotoGP over the next five years and help the sport to win new fans.
"We want to bring the viewers closer to the action and closer to the teams.
"Our aim is to offer even more insight into what goes on behind the scenes and our live coverage of testing is the first step in offering extra content and the very best comprehensive coverage of this thrilling sport."
