Video: The greatest MotoGP rider of each decade

As a new MotoGP decade begins, albeit with a slight delay to the start of the 2020 world championship season, it is an ideal moment to reveal who is the greatest of all time across each decade.

Having given our top 10 MotoGP riders of all time, we have selected our picks for the greatest rider of each decade, starting from the 1950s up to the present day.

From the first icons like Geoff Duke and John Surtees all the way to the modern day heroes like Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi, compiling this list has been a tricky task given there have been so many legendary names spread across the decades. But after much deliberation and debate, we have come up with MotoGP’s star of each decade starting from the 1950s and stretching into the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and finally into the 2010s.

Plenty of names both in this list and those who didn’t quite make the grade spill into multiple decades – and in Rossi’s case he can claim to have raced in four different decades once the 2020 season starts – so we have taken a strong cut-off point at the start and end of each 10-year period to make our decisions.

While we wait for the 2020 MotoGP season to begin amid the current postponements, it will be fascinating to see which rider emerge as contenders for the ‘greatest’ recognition over the next 10 years.

Who do you think will be the greatest rider of the next 10 years? Will Marquez carry on his dominance or will the likes of Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales and Alex Rins take control? Let us know in the comments section below.