Get set for more thrills and spills as MotoGP returns
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The 2017 MotoGP season gets underway this weekend, and if it’s anything like last year, then it should provide unmissable sporting action.
While Mercedes won 19 of last year’s 21 Formula One races, the boys in MotoGP crowned eight different race winners.
They came from four different manufacturers, and included three first-time race winners in a four-race run.
So hopes are high for another enthralling and competitive campaign this time around.
Reigning champion Marc Marquez is 6/4 favourite to retain his title, but the odds suggest the 24-year-old Spaniard won’t have it all his own way.
That’s because 22-year-old Maverick Vinales has left Suzuki to join the great Valentino Rossi at Yamaha.
Tipped as the next big thing, the Spanish star dominated at Silverstone last year to take his first Grand Prix win.
And now with the big boys at Yamaha, our traders make it a very realistic 7/4 that Vinales takes this year’s title.
Next up is the man they call the GOAT – Greatest Of All Time – Rossi at 9/2.
Much like Roger Federer in the tennis world, Rossi is defying the laws of time, and finished second in last year’s championship at a ripe old age of 37.
Has the Italian still got enough in the tank to outlast Marquez and Vinales over a full campaign? As the best-backed rider in terms of bets placed to win the title, plenty of supporters reckon Rossi’s still got it.
One of 2017’s most intriguing storylines however, will be Jorge Lorenzo.
The three-time champ has left Rossi at Yamaha to take on the challenge at Ducati.
Only Casey Stoner has managed to tame the Desmosedici, which is why Lorenzo is only fourth-favourite at 5/1.
Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Iannone lead the rest of the charges at 16/1 apiece, with Briton’s Cal Crutchlow 33/1 to win the title, following last year’s two race wins.
The first of this year’s 18 races takes place at Qatar this weekend.
But with a rare bout of rain forecast in the Middle East, we could see some of that MotoGP unpredictability sooner than anticipated.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
