Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest level of motorcycle road racing, held on Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme-sanctioned circuits (FIM). Since the turn of the twentieth century, independent motorcycle racing events have been held, and significant national events have frequently been given the title Grand Prix.

The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme was established in 1949 as the worldwide regulatory organisation for motorcycle sport, allowing for the coordination of rules and regulations so that selected events may count towards the World Championships. It is the oldest motorsport championship in the world.

Here are the top MotoGP winners of the decade:

Valentino Rossi:

Valentino Rossi is one of the most sought names in MotoGP.

Valentino Rossi is a nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion and retired professional motorcycle road racer from Italy. With both Honda and Yamaha, he won World Championships in the premier class.

He has been MotoGP winner from 2002 to 2005

With nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name, seven of which were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class, he is widely regarded as one of the best motorcycle racers of all time. He is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 Grands Prix or more and wore the number 46 throughout his career. He had earlier requested that the race number be used in future seasons rather than being retired.

Rossi was officially introduced to the MotoGP Hall of Fame as an official Legend by the FIM at the end of the 2021 season’s awards ceremony. He is the owner of the Racing Team VR46, which competes in Moto2 and will race in MotoGP in 2022. He also intends to participate in and manage his motorcycle racing team, VR46. In addition, he will race for Team WRT in the GT World Challenge Europe in 2022.

Nicholas Patrick Hayden

“The Kentucky Kid,” Nicholas Patrick Hayden (July 30, 1981 – May 22, 2017), was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006. Hayden started riding motorcycles when he was a kid. He started racing in the CMRA before moving on to the AMA Supersport Championship and later the AMA Superbike Championship. In 2002, he won the AMA championship and was recruited by the Repsol Honda team to ride in MotoGP for them in 2003.

Hayden joined the Ten Kate Racing Honda squad in the Superbike World Championship in 2016. In his maiden season in the Superbike World Championship, he finished fifth, with a win in Malaysia being the highlight of his campaign. Hayden stayed with the Red Bull Honda team in 2017. (formerly Ten Kate Racing team).

Hayden was hit by a car while riding his bicycle in Italy on May 17, 2017. He sustained a severe brain injury and died five days later in a nearby hospital. Hayden was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame posthumously in 2018.

Casey Stoner:

Casey Joel Stoner AM (born 16 October 1985) is a retired professional motorcycle racer from Australia. He won the MotoGP World Championship twice, in 2007 and 2011. Stoner won a championship with both the Ducati and Honda factory teams throughout his MotoGP career.

Stoner’s 2007 victory is still the lone rider’s championship for Ducati. Stoner remained a strong contender in 2008 and 2009, winning many races but failing to regularly challenge Valentino Rossi and Yamaha for the championship during those years. Stoner made a solid start to the 2009 season, but owing to persistent exhaustion, he had to miss three races. In 2010, Ducati was unable to compete with Yamaha and Honda until late in the season, when Stoner finished the season on a high note by winning three races.

Stoner announced his retirement from Grand Prix racing at the end of the 2012 season before the French Grand Prix. Between 2007 and 2012, Stoner was the winner of his home Grand Prix of Australia six times in a row. Stoner missed many races due to injuries sustained in a practice crash at Indianapolis, hurting his title hopes for his final season. He finished his MotoGP career on a high note, winning his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island for the sixth time in a row and finishing third in his final race.

Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (born 4 May 1987) is a retired Spanish professional motorcycle racer who won three MotoGP World Championships in 2010, 2012, and 2015, as well as two World Championships in the 250cc class in 2006 and 2007, making him a five-time World Champion.

In 2017, Lorenzo joined the Ducati factory team. In his debut season with Ducati, he only managed three podiums and finished seventh in the championship, as his teammate and former 250cc rival Andrea Dovizioso battled for the title until the final round in Valencia. Lorenzo rediscovered form in the following season, winning three races at Mugello, Catalunya, and Austria, as well as finishing second in Brno. Lorenzo’s move to Repsol Honda in 2019 was doomed, and he retired at the end of the season.

Lorenzo is the fifth most successful premier class race winner of all time, with 47 victories.

Marc Márquez

Marc Márquez Alentà (born February 17, 1993) is a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who has competed for Honda since his MotoGP debut in 2013. He was born in Cervera, Catalonia, Spain, and is known around the world as the ‘Ant of Cervera’ (owing to his 1.68m height) and in his hometown as ‘el tro de Cervera,’ which translates as ‘Thunder of Cervera.’ After Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, and Valentino Rossi, he is one of only four riders to have won world championship titles in three different categories.

Márquez became the third Spaniard to win the premier class title, behind Lex Crivillé and Jorge Lorenzo, and is the most successful Spanish rider in MotoGP history, with 59 victories. At 20 years and 266 days old, he became the first rider since Kenny Roberts in 1978 to win the premier class title in his rookie season, and the youngest to win the title overall.

He is also one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, having won eight Grand Prix World Championships, six of which are in the premier class.

Joan Mir

Joan Mir Mayrata (born September 1, 1997) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer who is most known for winning the 2020 MotoGP World Championship with the Suzuki MotoGP squad.  After Lex Crivillé, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Márquez, he is the fourth Spanish rider to win the premier class and the second Mallorcan after Lorenzo.

With Leopard Racing, Mir also won the 2017 Moto3 World Championship.

Fabio Quartararo

Joan Mir Mayrata (born September 1, 1997) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer who is most known for winning the 2020 MotoGP World Championship with the Suzuki MotoGP squad.   After Lex Crivillé, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Márquez, he is the fourth Spanish rider to win the premier class and the second Mallorcan after Lorenzo. With Leopard Racing, Mir also won the 2017 Moto3 World Championship.

Quartararo won six Spanish junior championship titles before his Grand Prix career, including consecutive CEV Moto3 titles in 2013 and 2014. He was projected for “great things” at a young age, and was even compared to multiple world champion Marc Márquez, and set several age records along with his progression up to World Championship level. He failed to live up to expectations in the Moto3 and Moto2 World Championships, but moved up to MotoGP with Petronas Yamaha SRT and finished the season as rookie of the year with seven podiums and fifth place overall.

Enea Bastianini

Enea Bastianini (born December 30, 1997), also known as “La Bestia” (The Beast), is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer who competes in the MotoGP class with Gresini Racing MotoGP. In 2020, he won the Moto2 World Championship.

Bastianini debuted in the Moto3 World Championship in 2014, riding for Team GO&FUN Moto3. Bastianini’s first points came in his second race, when he finished 13th at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, kicking off a run of four straight points finishes, including top-ten finishes at the Argentine, Spanish, and French Grands Prix. Bastianini took his first podium with a second-place finish in Catalunya after failing to finish his home race at Mugello; he added another second-place finish in the Czech Republic and a third-place position in the next race in Great Britain. Bastianini placed eighth in the riders’ standings at the end of the season.

In the opening season of MotoGP 2022, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGPTM) delivered a Grand Prix of Qatar masterclass to clinch an emotional victory under the lights a little over a year after the terrible death of much-loved Fausto Gresini. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) finished second, only 0.3s behind the winner, with Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) rounding out the podium on the season’s first night.