MotoGP: Riders’ rider of the year results released

The Official MotoGP Season Review, edited by BT Sport commentator Julian Ryder, has released the details of their riders’ rider of the year competition, with some interesting results from the secret ballot of the premiere class’s stars.

For the vote, the riders list their top six of the year in order and are not allowed to vote for themselves. The judges then award six points for a first place down to one for a sixth place and add up the totals to arrive at the league table.

It’s no surprise that Marc Marquez tops the 2016 list, with everyone who voted putting him either first or second. Only three other riders got a first-place nomination: Valentino Rossi, Maverick Viñales and Cal Crutchlow. The top three were well ahead of the rest, which isn’t surprising as a dozen voters had them as the top three, albeit in various orders. In addition, everyone included Marquez and Rossi in their top six, and only one voter failed to mention Viñales.

No-one outside the top three enjoyed anywhere near that level of support. It’s worth noting that our poll put Maverick one place higher than in the real-life championship table.

Fourth place was a much closer affair, with just a handful of votes separating Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow – and Cal was two places higher than in the official table.

But if you’re looking for someone the riders hold in particularly high regard in comparison with his championship position, then Jack Miller is your man. He was down in 18th place in the championship but his fellow riders had him 11 positions higher in seventh place. And it was a clear seventh, well clear of the three-way tie for eighth place.

1 Marc Marquez
2 Valentino Rossi
3 Maverick Viñales
4 Jorge Lorenzo
5 Cal Crutchlow
6 Andrea Dovizioso
7 Jack Miller
8= Andrea Iannone
8= Dani Pedrosa
8= Hector Barbera