Ranking the Top Five MotoGP Title Contenders in 2025

The 2025 MotoGP season is just over a week away with the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand being the season-opener. The big question is, though, who are the main title contenders?

There’s been plenty of change when it comes to top level riders switching teams, or in the case of the Pramac team, switching manufacturers after the world champions swapped Ducati for Yamaha machinery this season.

We’ve picked out five riders we believe are the 2025 championship contenders, and while there are no great surprises, there’s plenty of intrigue around the riders and brands chosen.

5 - Marco Bezzecchi

A threat for much of the 2023 season, Bezzecchi took a step back aboard the Ducati in 2024 but that was for a few reasons, one of which was injuries. The Italian struggled to adapt to the new bike, particularly the front-end feeling which led to many slip-ups.

But the Italian showed in 2023 that with a competitive bike, confidence and a good team around him, he can not only win but dominate races and with Aprilia he will have the opportunity to do that.

Aprilia had a strong pre-season, and by that we mean Bezzecchi did, as the former VR46 Ducati rider had to do a lot of the heavy lifting in Sepang and Buriram due to injuries suffered by Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez.

But despite being new to the RS-GP, Bezzecchi flashed serious potential and if everything clicks for Aprilia and himself in 2025, there’s no reason why the man known as ‘Bez’ can’t have some very happy Sundays.

4 - Pedro Acosta

The most intriguing name on this list is Pedro Acosta, and not because it’s a surprise to rank him this high, but because of KTM’s troubled off-season.

The Austrian company has endured a torrid time in the last few months as it entered self-administration, has faced debts of over €2 billion, was forced to let hundreds of employees go, and ended its partnership with MV Agusta.

That’s not stopped Acosta, though, who is without question one of the most talented riders on the grid. The Spaniard performed at a very high level in pre-season, and looks ready to challenge at the very front in 2025.

KTM’s bike development has been brought into question as a result of the issues it has faced, but so far the brand has claimed its MotoGP project is going on as planned and Acosta has consistently been the best-performing RC16 rider since all the financial trouble hit.

3 - Jorge Martin

He may have been injured on the very first day of the Sepang test, ruled out of the following two-day test in Thailand thanks to that injury and new to the Aprilia, but you still can’t rule out the reigning world champion.

Martin was truly sensational in 2024 as he put the disappointment of losing the title in 2023 behind him to go on and outperform Francesco Bagnaia when it mattered most. The Spanish rider is a clear favourite to be in the hunt once again despite the change in manufacturer.

Martin also showed that his electric one-lap pace and sprint race performances were not going to define how good he was last year, which was the case in 2023. Instead, the former Moto3 champion was able to deliver measured, controlled and sustained pace over Grand Prix distance, something we didn’t always see from him in 2023.

2 - Francesco Bagnaia

With Martin out of the Ducati stable, many of you thought that the top spot might have been heading the way of Bagnaia, who is the most experienced Ducati rider on the grid and a two-time world champion in the last three years.

And while we believe the Italian has a great chance of making it three MotoGP championships to his name this season, we’ve saved that spot for someone we believe will narrowly have the edge over the VR46 Academy rider.

In 2024 Bagnaia showed that while he can win on any weekend, mistakes are still present in his game and he will need to eradicate those if he’s to beat the rider we’ve placed at the top of this list.

Bagnaia is more than capable of doing that, but whether he will is another question as the pressure in the factory Ducati garage is going to be ramped up to an all-time high this year.

1 - Marc Marquez

There we have it, my pick for the 2025 MotoGP championship is none other than Bagnaia’s team-mate, an eight-time world champion and the man looking to tie Valentino Rossi on seven MotoGP titles, Marc Marquez.

Fastest at the Thai MotoGP test on both days, Marquez was imperious throughout and set a race run pace that no one could live with. Marquez has more experience than most, all the accolades you could imagine and wins under all circumstances and against the very best riders this sport has ever seen. On top of that, he is more hungry than ever.

Marquez was a consistent threat in just his first season as a Ducati rider in 2024, but with full-factory machinery and a year of experience aboard the Desmosedici, 2025 could well be the year that he puts everything together and returns to the top of the sport.

Consistency, along with his supreme talent and speed has always been something other riders have struggled to replicate and with the best bike on the grid at his disposal, it seems like the current partnership between Ducati and Marquez is a match made in heaven for 2025.

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