Initial situation: Marquez has his first World Cup opponent in his own team

This time, however, the Spanish defending champion has his first opponent in his own team, Jorge Lorenzo, after his Spanish compatriot switched from Ducati to Honda. The strongest challenger in the Motorcycle World Championship, which begins under floodlights in Doha on Sunday, will be Andrea Dovizioso - on the even more powerful Ducati.

Last season Jorge Lorenzo (right) was still in the Ducati team. Here he pursued Marc Marquez. © APA/afp / JOSE JORDAN

Last year, Dovizioso and Lorenzo had already won seven of the 19 races of the season on the high-horsepower Desmosedicis from Ducati and Dovizioso secured the runner-up world championship title behind Marquez for the second time in a row with his victory in the finale in Valencia. In total, the Italian has 21 GP victories, 12 of them in MotoGP. Lorenzo's successor and therefore Dovizioso's new teammate is the Italian Danilo Petrucci. Marquez has won five of the last six world titles Marquez is and remains the absolute number one in the premier two-wheeler class. When it comes to hero status, the 26-year-old has long been following in the footsteps of the “old master” Valentino Rossi, who continues to ride with Yamaha. Marquez has grabbed five of the six world titles awarded since 2013, and the Catalan already has seven world championship titles and 70 GP victories. The Marquez/Lorenzo team pairing promises explosiveness Only in 2015 did another driver prevail in the World Cup. Namely the then Yamaha rider and Rossi teammate Jorge Lorenzo. With the exception of Casey Stoner (2011), the MotoGP world titles since 2010 have only gone to Lorenzo (2010, 2012 and 2015) and Marquez (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018). And of all people, Lorenzo is now Marquez's teammate in the Repsol Honda factory team instead of Dani Pedrosa, so the Spanish driver pairing promises some explosiveness.

The fact that neither of them were at the top on their RC213V bikes during the pre-season test rides was, on the one hand, due to the lightning-fast Ducatis. But also because Marquez had shoulder surgery in December and Lorenzo broke his left wrist in a training accident in January and therefore missed the first tests in Sepang. Valentino Rossi is entering his 24th World Cup season Maverick Vinales (ESP) and the now 40-year-old Rossi are still on the factory Yamahas. The nine-time champion from Italy is entering his 24th World Cup season. If possible, a negative series like the 25 races without a win that Vinales ended in Australia last October should never happen again at Yamaha. For the third year, KTM is sending four RC16 motorcycles into the race for the first time. In addition to the factory team with Pol Espargaro (ESP) and new acquisition Johann Zarco (FRA), as in Moto2, there is now also a Tech3 satellite team at the start, the riders there are Miguel Oliveira (POR) and Hafizh Syahrin (MAL).

Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales are still teammates.

In 2019, the Motorcycle World Championships will also begin in Qatar (Sunday/18 p.m.) and end after a total of 19 races in Valencia in November.

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Initial situation: Marquez has his first World Cup opponent in his own team

In 2019, Marc Marquez will also be the favorite in the premier class. The MotoGP World Championship begins in Qatar on Sunday.

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