The top 10 MotoGP riders of 2018

While the 2018 MotoGP season threw up no shortage of thrilling races, it failed to live up to its billing when it came to the championship fight - not helped by the sheer brilliance of the rider that won it, and the errors made by his rivals, whether they were made on the track or away from it.

What's more, although the gap between first and last on the grid continued to decrease, for a decent chunk of the season there was an unusual sense of inevitability that race wins would be fought between only three riders - at least until Yamaha's late-season resurgence.

Still, as ever, there were plenty of intriguing subplots bubbling away beneath the surface, as well as the usual smattering of standout performances up and down the grid.

10. Franco Morbidelli

Team: Marc VDS Honda
Starts: 16
Wins: 0 (best position 8th)
Championship position: 15th

Although there was no rookie who made quite the impact Johann Zarco did last year in 2018, Morbidelli was the standout newcomer and demolished team-mate Tom Luthi at Marc VDS.

The Italian-Brazilian also deserves extra credit for keeping his focus and calm while the team imploded around him in the middle of the year.

Morbidelli may only have been four points clear of Hafizh Syahrin in the rookie of the year standings, but his 2017-spec Honda was a much more difficult bike to ride than Syahrin's user-friendly Yamaha.

Good thing, then, that it's the Yamaha that Morbidelli will switch to next season, as he gets a chance to shine with the newly-formed Petronas satellite squad.

9. Alvaro Bautista

Team: Angel Nieto Ducati, Ducati (1 race)
Starts: 18
Wins: 0 (best position 4th)
Championship position: 12th

There was only room for one satellite Ducati rider on this list, and a superb cameo for the factory squad at Phillip Island swung that particular battle in favour of Bautista.

Even without that deeply impressive ride to fourth on a totally unfamiliar GP18, there would still have been a solid argument to include the Spanish veteran based on his almost metronomic consistency from Jerez onwards aboard his year-old Nieto bike.

That star showing in Australia added to the disbelief that Bautista was left without a ride in 2019. MotoGP's loss is set to be World Superbike's gain.

8. Johann Zarco

Team: Tech3 Yamaha
Starts: 18
Wins: 0 (best position 2nd)
Championship position: 6th

There are two ways to look at Zarco's sophomore season in MotoGP. The first is to say that squeezing 158 points from a two-year old, barely-developed bike and emerging as the top independent is a worthy achievement.

The second is that Zarco didn't live up to his potential. And even the Frenchman himself will admit he lost form in the wake of his crash from the lead on home turf at Le Mans.

After that, he wouldn't be seen in the top five again until Yamaha's minor resurgence began in Thailand, and Zarco arguably squandered another strong chance at fighting for the win in Australia by making contact with Marc Marquez.

7. Cal Crutchlow

Team: LCR Honda
Starts: 15
Wins: 1
Championship position: 7th

After an "average" - his description - 2017, Crutchlow returned to form this year, helped in no small part by a Honda that was much easier to ride than its predecessor.

Victory in Argentina was the highlight, and while there would be only two more podiums, he was easily the second-best Honda rider and also frequently the best of the rest behind the 'big three' - Marquez and the two works Ducati men - in the middle of the year.

Sadly, what would have been a well-earned independents' title was taken away in a huge crash in practice at Phillip Island that ruled him out of the last three races.

6. Alex Rins

Team: Suzuki
Starts: 18
Wins: 0 (best position 2nd)
Championship position: 5th

Suzuki's recovery from a dismal 2017 meant both its riders went into the final round with a chance to breach the top five in the standings. Andrea Iannone blew his; Rins seized his with both hands.

Such was Rins' late-season form it was easy to forget that he endured a pretty rocky opening part of the year, crashing out of four of the first seven races. But a mid-season engine upgrade, introduced at Assen, transformed his prospects.

A first win remained tantalisingly beyond reach, but Rins ending the year with back-to-back second places proves he is ready not only to win his first GP but also to step up to the mark as Suzuki's team leader for the next two seasons.

5. Maverick Vinales

Team: Yamaha
Starts: 18
Wins: 1
Championship position: 4th

Vinales' second season at Yamaha was one largely to forget, but it at least ended with a glimmer of hope for the future.

In particular, Vinales struggled in the early laps of races with a full fuel tank, and it was a common sight to see him plummeting down the order in the opening laps - only to then find pace later on, by which time it was too late.

After the mid-season trauma of his public falling out with crew chief Ramon Forcada, Vinales did well to regroup in the latter stages of the year, to the point where it was he, and not team-mate Valentino Rossi, who was able to make best use of the improved M1.

That was best exemplified in Australia, where Vinales broke away from the pack to win a race that perhaps Suzuki and Iannone should have, while Rossi found himself mired in sixth.

4. Jorge Lorenzo

Team: Ducati
Starts: 14
Wins: 3
Championship position: 9th

It's tricky to accurately assess a rider when his season effectively ended two months early, but it would still be fair to call Lorenzo's second year in red leathers a qualified success.

After another sluggish start to the year, which eroded Ducati's confidence in Lorenzo to the point where his contract was not renewed, at Mugello the pieces finally came together and made the three-time champion a winner on the GP18.

At one stage it even looked like Lorenzo was poised to emerge as Marquez's biggest title threat. But his chances were already looking remote when he was launched into the air at Aragon at Turn 1 in a crash that left him nursing a foot injury.

That was followed by a monster practice crash at Buriram that in essence left him on the sidelines until Valencia, where he made his Ducati farewell and his test debut for Honda.

3. Valentino Rossi

Team: Yamaha
Starts: 18
Wins: 0 (best position 2nd)
Championship position: 3rd

Although not always as quick as team-mate Vinales, for the first 16 races of the year Rossi barely put a foot wrong on a Yamaha clearly not up to the task of winning races.

For much of the year, the Italian held on to second in the standings, bagging five podiums along the way. But then came Sepang, where one small mistake, albeit under pressure from Marquez, cost him what could have been a first MotoGP win in almost 18 months.

The significance of that error was that it followed Vinales' triumph in Australia, the one that ended Yamaha's painful 25-race losing streak. As such, the momentum heading into 2019, particularly after post-season testing, lies with Yamaha's young gun.

Still, it would be foolish to write off Rossi - who turns 40 in February - just yet. Plenty have tried to in the last decade, only to find 'The Doctor' confounding their predictions.

2. Andrea Dovizioso

Team: Ducati
Starts: 18
Wins: 4
Championship position: 2nd

After coming close to toppling Marquez in 2017, Dovizioso for the first time entered a MotoGP season among the favourites, and duly lived up to his billing with victory in Qatar.

But not long after that things began to go wrong for the Ducati man. His Jerez crash was pure bad luck, but his tumbles at Le Mans, Barcelona and finally Motegi - where the title was decided in Marquez's favour - ultimately undid his championship ambitions.

Ducati's GP18 was not only the finest all-round bike on the grid, it was by all accounts a considerable improvement on its predecessor. Dovizioso won seven races in 2017, so logic would suggest that four wins in '18 was not a particularly good return.

The Italian's defenders would respond by pointing out Honda's progress, as well as Lorenzo's rebirth. At least new team-mate Danilo Petrucci isn't likely to give Dovizioso such a hard time in 2019.

1. Marc Marquez

Team: Honda
Starts: 18
Wins: 9
Championship position: 1st

Last year, it was a close call between the top two riders in the championship for the honour of topping this list. This year, there was no contest.

Any remaining holdouts who refused to acknowledge Marquez's greatness would have been sorely disappointed by a 2018 campaign in which the 25-year-old added to his growing legend with six more pole positions, nine more wins and of course a fifth premier-class title.

Yes, the 2018-spec Honda was a big improvement on the '17 bike, but Honda team boss Alberto Puig admitted afterwards that the marque's machinery was still no match for the talent of the man that single-handedly delivered it a coveted 'triple crown' of riders', manufacturers' and teams' titles.

Whether Marquez is already the 'GOAT' or merely on his way to becoming it is a matter of conjecture. But his place in grand prix motorcycling's pantheon of all-time greats can certainly no longer be denied.