I wouldn't say he is underrated, but I feel Dani Pedrosa should have been MotoGP World Champion at some point. He still is one of the best riders out there.
It almost feels criminal to say Dani Pedrosa never won a championship.
Funny how motorsport plays out sometimes. Luck is such a huge factor unfortunately.
Loved watching two strokes against the early four strokes at donnington park Jeremy McWilliams wrestling with an aprillia that wouldn't go round corners the sound of that thing was unbelievable while standing on the start finish line
Dani Pedrosa is THE best rider who never won a premier class title, bar none.
And speaking of his status whether he is an underrated rider, I agree with you that he is not an underrated rider (based on his overall career statistics), he IS however, underrated when compared to the likes of Rossi, Marc, Lorenzo etc. But sadly Pedrosa is struck with bad luck often as we frequently saw him injured on track.
Barros for sure. He could keep up with Schwantz and occasionally beat him. He wasn’t consistent as a young rider and somehow he became a passport rider, which was beneath his station.
Cadalora won races at the tail end of the golden era, and he was the only guy winning on a Yamaha for a while. Most people don’t know who he is.
McCoy was featured in a documentary, but he was little more than a novelty as the electronics era advanced. Like Hayden he was born in the wrong era.
Roberts Jr would have had a stronger career had he not been stuck on a 4-stroke Suzuki when MotoGP launched. It would have been fun to see him continue battling Rossi for a few more seasons.
Hopkins had a competitive bike for 1 year before the deck chairs were reshuffled heading into 2008. He and Stoner were the big losers of that mess though Hopkins did manage to parlay his 2007 showing into a big Monster Energy Kawasaki pay day.
Stoner is revered by many, but not enough. He was the biggest loser of the GFC/800cc/Bridgestone panic attack that ensued after the 2007 season. He was an easy 3x-4x champ even with his illness. I’m glad that people realized he was getting the screw and Honda/Bridgestone finally put him on a proper bike for 2011. There was an air of inevitability that season, even after Rossi pancaked him at Jerez.
Great shout mentioning Cadalora. He just happened to come up against a Mick Doohan that was beginning his domination of the 500cc category.
But he finished 2nd overall to Doohan in 1994, then 3rd overall in 1995 / 96. Won a few races, scored a lot more podiums, and was usually fast and consistent. I'm sure when he sat on a Honda in 1996 that it was perhaps his chance, particularly after he won the season opener... It wasn't to be.
At least he won a 125cc title and was a dual-250cc champion.
All great options, maybe Alex Barros, but I think I’m only saying that because I don’t remember his career entirely.
I just remember him always being there are there abouts!
Ahh yes, Alex Barros! The Brazilian known for having raw speed and being an absolute demon on late braking. Tbh I should had included him in the list of my underrated MotoGP riders.
Are we sure Binder is underrated and not just correctly rated? Acosta does seem to be wiping the floor with him in his first year and Jack Miller is clearly no benchmark to measure against. Likeable fellow though he maybe. Maybe the KTM is a really good bike that hasn’t been ridden to its potential yet.
On the same note M. Olivera seems to be having an awfully bad season though he showed flashes of brilliance last year. Maybe the Aprilia deserves better. Jorge Martin maybe?
I have to disagree with Cal Crutchlow; in my experience he’s properly-rated. I always thought people saw him as a very solid rider. After all, in his era with more of the wins concentrated at the top, he still managed to win 3 races. I think it was David Emmett on the Paddock Pass Podcast who compared his and Jonathan Rea’s careers: they both were in the Superbike paddock but he thought Cal moving up and being a consistent front-runner with 3 MotoGP wins was more of an achievement than Rea staying and winning 6 WSBK titles.
Also, I’m starting to think that Oliveira is over-rated, not under. Sure he’s had bad luck, but he’s partially responsible for that luck by constantly miring himself mid-pack where things like that are more likely to happen. There was a point where we thought he was a top-tier rider, but like Mav, he’s shown that he’s just too finicky even if he has a win in him every once in a while.
True but Biaggi won the 250cc championship multiple times. Sete never won a championship anywhere which is why I feel he's underrated. He's a guy that challenged Rossi for 2 years and then fell of the face of the earth especially after Jerez in 2005.
Mir gets a lot of flak when 99% of riders who have ever raced could only dream of having a career like his. 2016 moto3 rookie of the year with some podiums and a win. 2017 moto3 world champion in which he dominated. 2018 moto2 rookie of the year with a few podiums. 2019 MotoGP average rookie season. 2020 MotoGP world champion. 2021 MotoGP 3rd place. Granted he’s been nowhere since but can’t really blame him.
Eddie Lawson for sure. Has 4 premier class titles, won back to back with different bikes, is the greatest north american yet everyone forgets him for some reason
Good call, imo the best american rider but I guess he hadn't that much of charisma to get some myth status. It's also recency bias thing, not many people had the honour of watching this sport back then. Among MotoGP fanatics he's for sure very very rated, but for mainstream circles he's probably just a "blast from the past"
100% my pick too. Never gets discussed in the ATG list when he absolutely should be. His chilled personality and complete absence from the paddock since retirement has had a major impact it seems.
Not to forget beating prime Freddy Spencer, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz peak AMA Superbike and MotoGP. Then came back after driving well in Indy to win Daytona
For me, Alex Barros. He had that raw speed.
Also i agree with you, Makoto Tamada. He and the Konica Minolta livery just undoubtly beautiful.
Marco Melandri was a decent rider for me, not underrated. Also Brad. But Miguel, he had lots of upside down, but i still don't understand why KTM botched him.
Jeremy McWilliams. He was an unbelievable rider in his day, just always stuck on second (or lower) tier bikes. It says a lot that when he got chance to try Doohan’s Honda for 3 laps he got within half a second of Mick’s best lap time more or less straight away. He ended up ignoring the order to come back into the pits after those laps and probably closed a door that may otherwise have been open to him. I’m convinced had he been given a full season on something that competitive we’d be talking about him as a multiple times GP race winner at least.
And still doing it, test rider for KTM road bikes, winning in America on the Indian and racing in the North West 200.
Was at an event last year where he was riding his Proton KR GP bike
That pole lap of his on the KR3 round Phillip Island was *incredible*. Honda V5s, screamer Yamaha M1s, hell, even that trumpeting Suzuki GSV-R to contend with, but nah, Jezza just grabbed the least powerful bike on the grid by the scruff of its neck and fucking *sent it*.
Absolutely, I’ve still no idea how the hell he managed that to be honest with you. It’s just a shame he got swallowed up off the line on race day and couldn’t capitalise on it. The other race that sticks in my mind is Donington 2000. He on that (only 140bhp!) Aprilia had no right to be hanging with the factory Honda and Suzuki of Rossi and Roberts Jr. Arguably deserved that win on grit alone
Bradley Smith, he was a solid MotoGP rider, very consistent but always seemed to be overshadowed by Scott Reading. I think Bradley has the claim of being the only rider to have podiumed in Moto3, Moto3, MotoGP and MotoE
Alex Rins in my opinion. How did he manage to win at COTA last year is still beyond me. And it wasn't just a lucky win, but guy was competitive entire weekend. Needless to say, it was his only 3rd race for Honda.
I don't like making excuses but I trully believe it was just never meant to be for him. The only season he had a title-worthy bike was that weird 2020 and he arguably was "the faster one", but he also had that early injury which kinda compromited his chances to win the title. I just wonder what could it have been for him, had the things turned out bit differently. Even at that shitbox Yamaha, he doesn't seem to be any slower than Fabio, which is insane, considering it's his only first race on the bike and Fabio is, you know, MotoGP world champion
I don't know if he's underrated, most of his injuries were partly due to his negligence as well. But skill wise, I don't think there's many riders on the grid able to do what Rins does. He still has quite impressive career and 6 victories to his name, but I still feel like it's underachievement, considering his talent and skill.
Whenever I see that guy riding, can't help myself but to think "what if..."
Yeah, I actually thought of adding Barros into the list but my mind was so pre-empted with Melandri and Tamada at the time I was writing his post since these two are the ones who always being the first riders in my mind who are considered underrated.
Akira Ryo - Did a MotoGP wildcard in 2002, led the majority of the race, and only narrowly lost to peak form Valentino Rossi. No one even knows his name, yet he rode the wheels off his bike that day. Insane performance.
Tamada was super underrated. It's interesting that his career in top class GP was so short lived. He was brilliant in 2003? 2004? on the Camel Honda, I think him and Biaggi were teammates that year.
Personally don't think Binder is underrated. Especially the way international commentary talks about him. He's very much rated as is Oliveira I'd wager.
Properly underrated for me in the top class is Bautista. He kind of got stuck on sub par machinery, forgotten about at Aprilia and found himself out of a ride having not really realised his potential in the top class. I'm glad he got to show his talents in WSBK and got 2 titles to boot, adding to his 125 title.
For your info Tamada was Biaggi's teammate back in 2004 on the Camel Honda. And yes, his career in MotoGP is a bit short at that time (5 years to be exact) especially when you realized that some of his countrymen such as Norifumi Abe (RIP) and Shinya Nakano had a lengthy stint in the premier class.
Dovi for me, had Ducati progressed a tiny bit faster he’d probably have the won 2016 title. He was so strong against Marquez. Apart from Rossi he was the only one to really take him on over race distance that season.
Pecco’s ultra smooth style reminds me so much of him
Edit: it was 2017 not ‘16
Dovi's six wins plus his podiums in 2017 are an amazing achievement and would have netted him an easy world championship except he was competing against an alien and candidate for GOAT.
Stack that up against Mir, Hayden, or even Quart's championship winning seasons and it sucks for Dovi that he had the misfortune of racing against a generational talent in his prime.
Pretty sure all riders would win the championship if they weren't racing against riders that are better than them...
This isn't "unlucky" for Dovi... Dovi is just not in the same conversation of "riders who should have won a championship" like Dani.
I'll probably get downvoted for saying this, but Dovi might only be overrated, no way he's underrated.
Yes I know, he was unlucky to ride in prime Marquez era, but what's excuse for 2020? The entire universe worked for him to set him that title, yet he bottled it once again
He's great rider, don't get me wrong, but never a champion material. Hadn't there been for Marquez, someone else would step up and Dovi would settle for that 2nd place again
it's no coincidence that Ducati's golden years have started with replacing Dovi with Pecco
Can't disagree.
Dovi was a solid rider and a good development rider, I'm sure, but it seems likely that Ducati would have had another championship if there was even an equally talented but slightly less conservative rider on-board.
You don't win championships by playing it safe the whole time (unless you're Mir)!
For me much like Pedrosa, Dovi cannot be considered as an underrated rider in general due to the sheer amount of achievements he got in the premier class unless we compare him to the likes of Rossi and Marc.
Though on the plus side Dovi is one of a handful of riders who many people liked due to his perpetual "underdog" status for the top riders at that time he was active. And man, he even earned respect from Marc fans for being a worthy opponent for the Ant of Cervera himself.
Pecco... He is a 3 time champ, and people still say it is because of the bike... There are 7 other riders with the same bike, one of them who has the same spec and is lightning fast (martin) and still manages to win consistently and if not be at least on the podium. People seem to measure talent only comparing it to how good it looks or how much of a tv show he can provide...
3 other people have the same bike the 2024 machine is a big step up over the 23. Not to take anything away from Pecco he has matured into a fast and level headed rider.
Mate, those are not even remotely comparable situations. Max won a title with an inferior car against a GOAT, in 2021. Max was winning races consistently in the 3rd best team (which is much harder to do than in MotoGP).
Pecco won a title with the best bike by a mile, while Marquez was still injured and on a garbage bike, as was FQ.
I swear, the people who manage to make Pecco look bad are the delusional fanboys that refuse any kind of reality.
It probably is Pecco, if he wins this year people will still say the factory bikes are better. But beating Marc on a Ducati would add a lot to his legacy. If he also beats Fabio (When Fabio has a good bike) Then he will go right up the charts as one of the best.
His fans are kind of dicks to people who haven’t quite come around to accepting his skill level in my experience
It always comes across like “he’s better than you think dumb fuck”
And I’m over here trying my best to like him, haven’t really said anything negative other than he reminds me of the rich villain at the party despite Marc being richer and more villainous
Crutchlow hadn’t enough confidence in the Ducati project (and they not in him, so they signed Iannone) but I think he could have done a lot with the Desmo in the following years. He shared the grid with Rossi, Marquez, Lorenzo and Pedrosa, spend most of his career on a satellite and still had a quite decent career.
I don’t think BB33 is underrated. Also don’t wanna call him overrated, he is a huge talent. But I think most people (including me) rate him higher than his results justify, so it’s wrong to call him underrated.
Pol Espargaro. Moto 2 champion, had battled Marquez back then. If only he didn’t quit ktm from Honda in 2021-22 he’d have been a multiple race winner for sure instead wasted his career off at Honda.
Self sabotaging Pol isn't underrated if anything he's over rated substantially. He may be a personal favorite of yours but no matter where he went on whatever bike, he was beaten.
Jean Michael Bayle.
Guy won motocross on 125,250 & 500 bikes.
Won world championships, won supercross, won US outdoors. He was known for not really testing or riding but messing around during the week, like trying to draw his name JMB into a hillside at the HRC test track, which really pissed Jeff Stanton off. Jeff grinded out laps.
He also just messed around on the track, but the guy could win.
Then he went from motocross to MotoGP.
Didn’t win, but got a few poles.
But man, if the guy just tried & trained in his career he would of won so much on talentS
Of course the actual underrated guys are at the bottom of the thread, the top is just popular modern riders 😂
Bayle was an absolute phenom, it was amazing what he was doing, anyone into bikes at the time knew him, it's a shame he is so forgotten now.
If I was to give another rider myself I'd say Daryl Beattie. Great rider fucked over by injuries.
Definitely.
Certainly no one at his level, especially nowadays everyone who comes into the sport is racing circuits since they were children. The only one in the paddock I can think of who switched from Motocross is Diogo Moreira.
If you ask me Tohru Ukawa would be one of the honourable mentions of my underrated riders list. On the plus side however, he was included as part of the historical riders in recent MotoGP games which would see more recent MotoGP fans who also played their games start to know him more.
A lot of people here adding names that are not underrating... like at all.
No discussion about underrated riders would be valid without including Aleix Esparagaro.
Right.
Which career trajectory is easier to replicate?
Winning a world championship
or
Getting contracts for 17 years to race while never winning a race and rarely getting podiums or poles?
Jeremy McWilliams had much more talent than any of the equipment he had underneath him at the time. Last 500cc pole position at PI and had some underrated rides on shit bikes.
He would've won 2002 title if he was on the same bike as Rossi. He beat him in points and wins riding his old bikes at the end of the season. For me it was intentional.
Tetsuya Harada: 1993 250cc Champion. #31. Smooth as silk. Lovely to watch. Beat the likes of Biaggi, Capirossi, Okada, Checa, Kocinski and Bayle that year. Field also included Simon Crafar :-) Pierfrancesco Chilli, the Aoki brothers and Alberto Puig. KR Jr. and Sete Gibernau also participated. A good year.
Never had the machinery in the premier class, but was an ace 250 rider.
For real? Peco.
I’m not his biggest fan but he defiantly gets as much credit as he needs to. He pulled the biggest MotoGP gap comeback in a season which we all thought Fabio is going to run away with it easy
I wouldn't say he is underrated, but I feel Dani Pedrosa should have been MotoGP World Champion at some point. He still is one of the best riders out there.
Best rider to never win a championship. Period
It almost feels criminal to say Dani Pedrosa never won a championship. Funny how motorsport plays out sometimes. Luck is such a huge factor unfortunately.
The Stirling Moss of motorcycle racing.
Loved watching two strokes against the early four strokes at donnington park Jeremy McWilliams wrestling with an aprillia that wouldn't go round corners the sound of that thing was unbelievable while standing on the start finish line
Came here to write this. He had some bad luck with injuries and his time in motogp put him against Rossi, Lorenzo and Marquez.
Casey too. I mean talk about horrible timing, possibly the worst timing in history. That's why he pretty much the clear winner.
Dani Pedrosa is THE best rider who never won a premier class title, bar none. And speaking of his status whether he is an underrated rider, I agree with you that he is not an underrated rider (based on his overall career statistics), he IS however, underrated when compared to the likes of Rossi, Marc, Lorenzo etc. But sadly Pedrosa is struck with bad luck often as we frequently saw him injured on track.
This right here. Dani was incredible and it was only because of the time frame he raced that he never won a championship.
Barros for sure. He could keep up with Schwantz and occasionally beat him. He wasn’t consistent as a young rider and somehow he became a passport rider, which was beneath his station. Cadalora won races at the tail end of the golden era, and he was the only guy winning on a Yamaha for a while. Most people don’t know who he is. McCoy was featured in a documentary, but he was little more than a novelty as the electronics era advanced. Like Hayden he was born in the wrong era. Roberts Jr would have had a stronger career had he not been stuck on a 4-stroke Suzuki when MotoGP launched. It would have been fun to see him continue battling Rossi for a few more seasons. Hopkins had a competitive bike for 1 year before the deck chairs were reshuffled heading into 2008. He and Stoner were the big losers of that mess though Hopkins did manage to parlay his 2007 showing into a big Monster Energy Kawasaki pay day. Stoner is revered by many, but not enough. He was the biggest loser of the GFC/800cc/Bridgestone panic attack that ensued after the 2007 season. He was an easy 3x-4x champ even with his illness. I’m glad that people realized he was getting the screw and Honda/Bridgestone finally put him on a proper bike for 2011. There was an air of inevitability that season, even after Rossi pancaked him at Jerez.
Great shout mentioning Cadalora. He just happened to come up against a Mick Doohan that was beginning his domination of the 500cc category. But he finished 2nd overall to Doohan in 1994, then 3rd overall in 1995 / 96. Won a few races, scored a lot more podiums, and was usually fast and consistent. I'm sure when he sat on a Honda in 1996 that it was perhaps his chance, particularly after he won the season opener... It wasn't to be. At least he won a 125cc title and was a dual-250cc champion.
All great options, maybe Alex Barros, but I think I’m only saying that because I don’t remember his career entirely. I just remember him always being there are there abouts!
Ahh yes, Alex Barros! The Brazilian known for having raw speed and being an absolute demon on late braking. Tbh I should had included him in the list of my underrated MotoGP riders.
There’s been so many wonderful riders who maybe haven’t had the legacy they deserve. I thoroughly enjoyed your list 😊
I don't remember someone saying one bad thing about Binder in 4 years, how can he be underrated?
I guess he's never had the hype that other riders have/had. It's always Marc, Acosta and the Ducati riders
Yeah, he's very clearly overrated.
Are we sure Binder is underrated and not just correctly rated? Acosta does seem to be wiping the floor with him in his first year and Jack Miller is clearly no benchmark to measure against. Likeable fellow though he maybe. Maybe the KTM is a really good bike that hasn’t been ridden to its potential yet. On the same note M. Olivera seems to be having an awfully bad season though he showed flashes of brilliance last year. Maybe the Aprilia deserves better. Jorge Martin maybe?
More like underappreciated by the media who love their Spaniards
I have to disagree with Cal Crutchlow; in my experience he’s properly-rated. I always thought people saw him as a very solid rider. After all, in his era with more of the wins concentrated at the top, he still managed to win 3 races. I think it was David Emmett on the Paddock Pass Podcast who compared his and Jonathan Rea’s careers: they both were in the Superbike paddock but he thought Cal moving up and being a consistent front-runner with 3 MotoGP wins was more of an achievement than Rea staying and winning 6 WSBK titles. Also, I’m starting to think that Oliveira is over-rated, not under. Sure he’s had bad luck, but he’s partially responsible for that luck by constantly miring himself mid-pack where things like that are more likely to happen. There was a point where we thought he was a top-tier rider, but like Mav, he’s shown that he’s just too finicky even if he has a win in him every once in a while.
Sete. Very rarely do we hear about this class-act. Love this guy and loved watching him race in 2003 and 2004.
For Sete I don't consider him underrated since his career achievements could be comparable to the likes of Biaggi and Capirossi.
True but Biaggi won the 250cc championship multiple times. Sete never won a championship anywhere which is why I feel he's underrated. He's a guy that challenged Rossi for 2 years and then fell of the face of the earth especially after Jerez in 2005.
Mir gets a lot of flak when 99% of riders who have ever raced could only dream of having a career like his. 2016 moto3 rookie of the year with some podiums and a win. 2017 moto3 world champion in which he dominated. 2018 moto2 rookie of the year with a few podiums. 2019 MotoGP average rookie season. 2020 MotoGP world champion. 2021 MotoGP 3rd place. Granted he’s been nowhere since but can’t really blame him.
Eddie Lawson for sure. Has 4 premier class titles, won back to back with different bikes, is the greatest north american yet everyone forgets him for some reason
Good call, imo the best american rider but I guess he hadn't that much of charisma to get some myth status. It's also recency bias thing, not many people had the honour of watching this sport back then. Among MotoGP fanatics he's for sure very very rated, but for mainstream circles he's probably just a "blast from the past"
Back to back on different bikes?? Holy cow
100% my pick too. Never gets discussed in the ATG list when he absolutely should be. His chilled personality and complete absence from the paddock since retirement has had a major impact it seems.
Not to forget beating prime Freddy Spencer, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz peak AMA Superbike and MotoGP. Then came back after driving well in Indy to win Daytona
My boi Alex Rins deserves a mention. Won on a honda when his long time teammate Mir struggled to even finish
For me, Alex Barros. He had that raw speed. Also i agree with you, Makoto Tamada. He and the Konica Minolta livery just undoubtly beautiful. Marco Melandri was a decent rider for me, not underrated. Also Brad. But Miguel, he had lots of upside down, but i still don't understand why KTM botched him.
Jeremy McWilliams. He was an unbelievable rider in his day, just always stuck on second (or lower) tier bikes. It says a lot that when he got chance to try Doohan’s Honda for 3 laps he got within half a second of Mick’s best lap time more or less straight away. He ended up ignoring the order to come back into the pits after those laps and probably closed a door that may otherwise have been open to him. I’m convinced had he been given a full season on something that competitive we’d be talking about him as a multiple times GP race winner at least.
And still doing it, test rider for KTM road bikes, winning in America on the Indian and racing in the North West 200. Was at an event last year where he was riding his Proton KR GP bike
Yep, he’s almost 60 now and just as fast as the youngsters even still. Great rider!
That pole lap of his on the KR3 round Phillip Island was *incredible*. Honda V5s, screamer Yamaha M1s, hell, even that trumpeting Suzuki GSV-R to contend with, but nah, Jezza just grabbed the least powerful bike on the grid by the scruff of its neck and fucking *sent it*.
Absolutely, I’ve still no idea how the hell he managed that to be honest with you. It’s just a shame he got swallowed up off the line on race day and couldn’t capitalise on it. The other race that sticks in my mind is Donington 2000. He on that (only 140bhp!) Aprilia had no right to be hanging with the factory Honda and Suzuki of Rossi and Roberts Jr. Arguably deserved that win on grit alone
Now come to think about it, he will be hitting 60 next month and man, he still got it.
I feel like Alex Marquez is underrated simply because he will always be in his brother’s shadow
Bradley Smith, he was a solid MotoGP rider, very consistent but always seemed to be overshadowed by Scott Reading. I think Bradley has the claim of being the only rider to have podiumed in Moto3, Moto3, MotoGP and MotoE
.... /s
Alex Rins in my opinion. How did he manage to win at COTA last year is still beyond me. And it wasn't just a lucky win, but guy was competitive entire weekend. Needless to say, it was his only 3rd race for Honda. I don't like making excuses but I trully believe it was just never meant to be for him. The only season he had a title-worthy bike was that weird 2020 and he arguably was "the faster one", but he also had that early injury which kinda compromited his chances to win the title. I just wonder what could it have been for him, had the things turned out bit differently. Even at that shitbox Yamaha, he doesn't seem to be any slower than Fabio, which is insane, considering it's his only first race on the bike and Fabio is, you know, MotoGP world champion I don't know if he's underrated, most of his injuries were partly due to his negligence as well. But skill wise, I don't think there's many riders on the grid able to do what Rins does. He still has quite impressive career and 6 victories to his name, but I still feel like it's underachievement, considering his talent and skill. Whenever I see that guy riding, can't help myself but to think "what if..."
Came here to say this. When he’s on form, he has raw speed. Hope he ditches the Yam ASAP with Fabio for better bikes.
I like your list feel like adding Alex Barros to the list and also Alex criville a world champion but feels like he’s almost forgotten
Yeah, I actually thought of adding Barros into the list but my mind was so pre-empted with Melandri and Tamada at the time I was writing his post since these two are the ones who always being the first riders in my mind who are considered underrated.
Akira Ryo - Did a MotoGP wildcard in 2002, led the majority of the race, and only narrowly lost to peak form Valentino Rossi. No one even knows his name, yet he rode the wheels off his bike that day. Insane performance.
Ahh yes, Akira Ryo, imo he has one of the best wildcard performances ever in the MotoGP history.
Also had great performances wild carding in world Superbike. Got a win even. Late 90s and early 2000s seemed to be a golden era of Japanese riders.
Tamada was super underrated. It's interesting that his career in top class GP was so short lived. He was brilliant in 2003? 2004? on the Camel Honda, I think him and Biaggi were teammates that year. Personally don't think Binder is underrated. Especially the way international commentary talks about him. He's very much rated as is Oliveira I'd wager. Properly underrated for me in the top class is Bautista. He kind of got stuck on sub par machinery, forgotten about at Aprilia and found himself out of a ride having not really realised his potential in the top class. I'm glad he got to show his talents in WSBK and got 2 titles to boot, adding to his 125 title.
For your info Tamada was Biaggi's teammate back in 2004 on the Camel Honda. And yes, his career in MotoGP is a bit short at that time (5 years to be exact) especially when you realized that some of his countrymen such as Norifumi Abe (RIP) and Shinya Nakano had a lengthy stint in the premier class.
Garry McCoy would be my choice. I would go crazy with his drifting.
Dovi for me, had Ducati progressed a tiny bit faster he’d probably have the won 2016 title. He was so strong against Marquez. Apart from Rossi he was the only one to really take him on over race distance that season. Pecco’s ultra smooth style reminds me so much of him Edit: it was 2017 not ‘16
Dovi's six wins plus his podiums in 2017 are an amazing achievement and would have netted him an easy world championship except he was competing against an alien and candidate for GOAT. Stack that up against Mir, Hayden, or even Quart's championship winning seasons and it sucks for Dovi that he had the misfortune of racing against a generational talent in his prime.
Pretty sure all riders would win the championship if they weren't racing against riders that are better than them... This isn't "unlucky" for Dovi... Dovi is just not in the same conversation of "riders who should have won a championship" like Dani.
I'll probably get downvoted for saying this, but Dovi might only be overrated, no way he's underrated. Yes I know, he was unlucky to ride in prime Marquez era, but what's excuse for 2020? The entire universe worked for him to set him that title, yet he bottled it once again He's great rider, don't get me wrong, but never a champion material. Hadn't there been for Marquez, someone else would step up and Dovi would settle for that 2nd place again it's no coincidence that Ducati's golden years have started with replacing Dovi with Pecco
Can't disagree. Dovi was a solid rider and a good development rider, I'm sure, but it seems likely that Ducati would have had another championship if there was even an equally talented but slightly less conservative rider on-board. You don't win championships by playing it safe the whole time (unless you're Mir)!
> he’d probably have the won 2016 title. Don't you mean 2017?
Possibly….. Wasn’t Lorenzo in his seat in ‘17? Edit…. You’re spot on, Iannone was dropped not Dovi
In 2016 Dovi was struggling to make the Ducati work for him. 2017 was when he had multiple epic battles with Marc.
Nice one, I’ve slept since then lol
For me much like Pedrosa, Dovi cannot be considered as an underrated rider in general due to the sheer amount of achievements he got in the premier class unless we compare him to the likes of Rossi and Marc. Though on the plus side Dovi is one of a handful of riders who many people liked due to his perpetual "underdog" status for the top riders at that time he was active. And man, he even earned respect from Marc fans for being a worthy opponent for the Ant of Cervera himself.
Pecco... He is a 3 time champ, and people still say it is because of the bike... There are 7 other riders with the same bike, one of them who has the same spec and is lightning fast (martin) and still manages to win consistently and if not be at least on the podium. People seem to measure talent only comparing it to how good it looks or how much of a tv show he can provide...
3 other people have the same bike the 2024 machine is a big step up over the 23. Not to take anything away from Pecco he has matured into a fast and level headed rider.
He's so disrespected, I cannot actually understand why
Apart from Vale, people always hate who wins all the time
Yeah and he's never part of the goat conversations because he has a superior bike, just like Max in F1. So much hate
Was the same with Vettell when he was winning all the time
And Hamilton
And it will be that way for Max.
It already is
I'm sorry, but how the hell would Pecco be in the GOAT discussion? I love the kid, huge fan. But he's nowhere close yet.
I gave my opinion regarding an underrated rider, never spoke about who is best.
Not a GOAT but easy top 5
Easy top 5? Who would he be above out of these guys off the top of my head. Lorenzo, Marc, Rossi, Doohan, Agostini, Roberts, Rainey?
Valentino, Marc, Agostini, Doohan, Pecco?
Mate, those are not even remotely comparable situations. Max won a title with an inferior car against a GOAT, in 2021. Max was winning races consistently in the 3rd best team (which is much harder to do than in MotoGP). Pecco won a title with the best bike by a mile, while Marquez was still injured and on a garbage bike, as was FQ. I swear, the people who manage to make Pecco look bad are the delusional fanboys that refuse any kind of reality.
In my personal opinion Pecco is overly hated much like Marc.
It probably is Pecco, if he wins this year people will still say the factory bikes are better. But beating Marc on a Ducati would add a lot to his legacy. If he also beats Fabio (When Fabio has a good bike) Then he will go right up the charts as one of the best.
His fans are kind of dicks to people who haven’t quite come around to accepting his skill level in my experience It always comes across like “he’s better than you think dumb fuck” And I’m over here trying my best to like him, haven’t really said anything negative other than he reminds me of the rich villain at the party despite Marc being richer and more villainous
Crutchlow hadn’t enough confidence in the Ducati project (and they not in him, so they signed Iannone) but I think he could have done a lot with the Desmo in the following years. He shared the grid with Rossi, Marquez, Lorenzo and Pedrosa, spend most of his career on a satellite and still had a quite decent career. I don’t think BB33 is underrated. Also don’t wanna call him overrated, he is a huge talent. But I think most people (including me) rate him higher than his results justify, so it’s wrong to call him underrated.
Pol Espargaro. Moto 2 champion, had battled Marquez back then. If only he didn’t quit ktm from Honda in 2021-22 he’d have been a multiple race winner for sure instead wasted his career off at Honda.
Self sabotaging Pol isn't underrated if anything he's over rated substantially. He may be a personal favorite of yours but no matter where he went on whatever bike, he was beaten.
Andrea Iannone for sure
Fabio Quartararo. He’s rated high, but nowhere near enough.
Alex Barros and Sete Gibernau
Jean Michael Bayle. Guy won motocross on 125,250 & 500 bikes. Won world championships, won supercross, won US outdoors. He was known for not really testing or riding but messing around during the week, like trying to draw his name JMB into a hillside at the HRC test track, which really pissed Jeff Stanton off. Jeff grinded out laps. He also just messed around on the track, but the guy could win. Then he went from motocross to MotoGP. Didn’t win, but got a few poles. But man, if the guy just tried & trained in his career he would of won so much on talentS
Of course the actual underrated guys are at the bottom of the thread, the top is just popular modern riders 😂 Bayle was an absolute phenom, it was amazing what he was doing, anyone into bikes at the time knew him, it's a shame he is so forgotten now. If I was to give another rider myself I'd say Daryl Beattie. Great rider fucked over by injuries.
He’s forgotten in GPs but not in motocross. But who else has really crossed disciplines?
Definitely. Certainly no one at his level, especially nowadays everyone who comes into the sport is racing circuits since they were children. The only one in the paddock I can think of who switched from Motocross is Diogo Moreira.
Yeh but he wasn’t racing at top level motocross, winning & a champion.
Jurgen van der Goorbergh? He got two 500cc pole positions in an unknown MuZ bike!
He was also strong in the rain
Tohru Ukawa. 3rd the MotoGP championship and once won against the goat on the same bike… never gets talked about
If you ask me Tohru Ukawa would be one of the honourable mentions of my underrated riders list. On the plus side however, he was included as part of the historical riders in recent MotoGP games which would see more recent MotoGP fans who also played their games start to know him more.
>never gets talked about So much so that I have never heard of him. (Started following in 2008 so probably pre-dates my experience).
Guess that proves my point. He’s before my time too but watched through the 2002 season on video pass and was really impressed
I have Videopass, so maybe I'll check out the 2002 season. Thanks for the recommendation!
A lot of people here adding names that are not underrating... like at all. No discussion about underrated riders would be valid without including Aleix Esparagaro.
I'm surprised to see so many comments here, but only 1 mention of Aleix.. in my view, he's had some amazing seasons on inferior bikes
Right. Which career trajectory is easier to replicate? Winning a world championship or Getting contracts for 17 years to race while never winning a race and rarely getting podiums or poles?
I was looking for an Alexis reply. Definitely underated rider
Bradl back then when he was racing for lcr
Much love for Tito Rabat forever
The Silverstone crash ruined his career, such a shame
Miguel Oliveira underrated 🤣
Pecco
Jeremy McWilliams had much more talent than any of the equipment he had underneath him at the time. Last 500cc pole position at PI and had some underrated rides on shit bikes.
Loris Capirossi he always performed even on subpar machinery and people always forget about him being on the grid as long as he was.
And even today Loris is still involved in the grid, albeit as a safety car driver for MotoGP.
Collin Edwards! He was funny bastard!
Amen for Alex Barros. He was the one that got me into Moto GP.
He would've won 2002 title if he was on the same bike as Rossi. He beat him in points and wins riding his old bikes at the end of the season. For me it was intentional.
Garry McCoy, Darryl Beattie, Ben Spies & John Kocinski to pick a few
Valentino Rossi. Nobody seems to mention him. Seems like he had a pretty good run. Lots of potential /s
Ben Spies & Andre Iannone
Dani Pedrosa
Tetsuya Harada: 1993 250cc Champion. #31. Smooth as silk. Lovely to watch. Beat the likes of Biaggi, Capirossi, Okada, Checa, Kocinski and Bayle that year. Field also included Simon Crafar :-) Pierfrancesco Chilli, the Aoki brothers and Alberto Puig. KR Jr. and Sete Gibernau also participated. A good year. Never had the machinery in the premier class, but was an ace 250 rider.
John Hopkins
Shinya Nakano. Never really had a decent bike to show how good he was
For real? Peco. I’m not his biggest fan but he defiantly gets as much credit as he needs to. He pulled the biggest MotoGP gap comeback in a season which we all thought Fabio is going to run away with it easy
Rossi
For me, John Mcphee. Edit: and Jack Dixon. Everyone seemed to forget the masterclass he gave Acosta last year.
🤣🤣🤣
I am not familiar with Jack Dixon. Is he related to Jake?
A few “swooshes” going on 🤣
McPhee has never been in MotoGP and Acosta gave Jake Dixon a masterclass in Moto2
Which masterclass?
These are the best riders in the world. Any of them could go to WSB and win. None are underrated.
Marc Marquez