For Miguel Oliveira \u2013 the only Portuguese rider ever to make it to MotoGP \u2013 that long time hasn\u2019t been a particularly good one, with the 30-year-old five-time MotoGP winner likely to be riding his final world championship laps in the next 10 days.<\/p>\n
Rewind to when MotoGP last visited the spectacular, undulating 15-corner track in March 2024 as round two of the 20-round season, Oliveira was the leader of the brand-new American-owned Trackhouse Racing Aprilia team, and had plenty to be optimistic about as he finished eighth in his home Grand Prix for a team getting its world championship feet wet. <\/p>\n
From there \u2013 with occasional bursts of strong results \u2013 it\u2019s been a slow, often painful path to MotoGP\u2019s exit turnstile.<\/p>\n
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BACK FROM THE BASEMENT<\/a> Inside Honda\u2019s MotoGP resurgence, and how a giant is stirring<\/p>\n \u2018DON\u2019T HAVE MUCH TIME\u2019<\/a> The rider who holds the key to the MotoGP rider market puzzle<\/p>\n In Indonesia last September, Oliveira crashed heavily in practice when his bike\u2019s electronic control unit glitched and flung him over the handlebars, a nasty fall seeing him break his right wrist and sidelining him for five of the final six rounds of the year. <\/p>\n It was the latest misfortune for a rider considered to be arguably the grid\u2019s unluckiest, after Oliveira had missed four rounds in 2023 from myriad injuries caused by accidents with Marc Marquez (in Portugal), Fabio Quartararo (Spain) and Aleix Espargaro (Qatar) that saw all three rivals penalised. <\/p>\n Oliveira signed a two-year deal with the new Pramac Racing\/Yamaha alliance alongside Australia\u2019s Jack Miller, but that too went south when he was taken out of the sprint race in Argentina in round two this season by Ducati rookie Fermin Aldeguer, dislocating his left shoulder and missing four rounds. <\/p>\n By the time he came back, the foundations beneath his feet had shifted. <\/p>\n Miller\u2019s form \u2013 strong in the early part of the season as the Australian fought for his future \u2013 saw Oliveira shuffled back to fourth in the standings of the four Yamaha riders behind Quartararo, Miller and Alex Rins. <\/p>\n When Yamaha signed World Superbikes star Toprak Razgatlioglu for 2026 \u2013 and with the factory having a break clause in Oliveira\u2019s contract that could be used if he trailed the three other Yamahas in the points table \u2013 Yamaha had five riders, four seats, and one obvious solution. <\/p>\n Once Miller was re-signed for 2026<\/a> ahead of the Catalan Grand Prix in September, Oliveira\u2019s time at Yamaha \u2013 and perhaps MotoGP, where he\u2019s raced since 2019 \u2013 was done. He swiftly did a World Superbikes deal with BMW \u2013 effectively a seat swap with Razgatlioglu \u2013 for next season, and may yet hang around in MotoGP as a test rider for Aprilia. <\/p>\n For now, though, this weekend\u2019s home race that\u2019s only on the calendar in the first place because of Oliveira\u2019s presence might be his last. <\/p>\n Portimao debuted in MotoGP as the series scrambled for available tracks to complete its covid-affected 2020 season, and Oliveira won handsomely \u2013 in front of empty grandstands \u2013 in the season finale. <\/p>\n With Superbikes racing at Portimao \u2013 and Estoril, 300 kilometres north and on the outskirts of Lisbon \u2013 next season, it\u2019s not goodbye at home for good for Oliveira this weekend. But a farewell for now? It\u2019s one he\u2019s come to terms with. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a retirement kind of feeling, it doesn\u2019t feel like a goodbye completely,\u201d Oliveira said in Thursday\u2019s pre-event press conference in Portimao.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s unrealistic from my side or not, but it\u2019s just how it feels. I don\u2019t think I should look at it with resentment or any kind of regret because I know that I gave my best, I did the best possible to stay and the best was not enough.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even know how to explain the emotions, because it\u2019s not an end but it\u2019s probably the last time I\u2019ll race a MotoGP there. It adds a special feeling to it.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2018Special\u2019 is an adjective often used to describe Portimao, which produces some of the most jaw-dropping TV images of the season and sees bikes completely airborne as they traverse the rises and falls over the 4.59km lap, the 16-metre drop from Turn 11 to 12 as the bikes swoop left down the hill not a place for the feint of heart. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a one-of-one circuit that\u2019s more like a motocross track paved with asphalt than a Grand Prix layout, and one that provides a stern challenge for the riders and an additional storyline for a season where the world champion, the runner-up and rookie of the year have all been decided before the final two rounds of MotoGP\u2019s longest-ever campaign, the 2025 season coming to a close in Valencia in a week\u2019s time.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s your Insider\u2019s Guide to round 21 of the MotoGP season, with the 25-lap Portuguese Grand Prix set for 12am (AEDT) on Monday after the 12-lap sprint race at 2am Sunday (AEDT).<\/p>\n Oliveira\u2019s seven-season MotoGP career looks set for its final laps in Portugal and Valencia in the next 10 days. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n SHORT-TERM PAIN EXPLAINABLE FOR YAMAHA: MILLER<\/p>\n Jack Miller is accepting of Yamaha\u2019s decision to push forward with its new V4-engined project for 2026 even if that has pumped the brakes on the progress of this year\u2019s bike, with the Australian, Rins and Oliveira all languishing towards the back-end of the world championship standings. <\/p>\n Miller, 18th in the points table with just 68 points, is on track for his worst season across a number of metrics<\/a> since his 2015 rookie campaign with Honda, but understands Yamaha\u2019s decision to direct its focus, finances and energies towards the V4 engine project that\u2019s set to replace the inline-four configuration for next season, with test rider Augusto Fernandez racing the nascent V4 in recent rounds at Misano and Sepang to gather data for what shapes up as a crucial off-season for the Japanese manufacturer.<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Renita and Matt preview this weekend\u2019s Portuguese Grand Prix, assess the fight for third in the championship between Marco Bezzecchi, Francesco Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta, and ponder the 2027 rider market and Fabio Quartararo\u2019s future with Yamaha. Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n Yamaha\u2019s lead rider, 2021 MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo, is ninth in the championship standings and has achieved five pole positions against the run of play this season<\/a>, but has just one Grand Prix podium (second in Spain in round five) to his name, Yamaha\u2019s sole visit to a Grand Prix rostrum all year. <\/p>\n Asked on Thursday for his take on Yamaha\u2019s development path this season, Miller said the factory has had to prioritise longer-term gains at the potential expense of results in the present. <\/p>\n \u201cTo ask them to develop more than what they already are is almost an impossible feat,\u201d Miller said of Yamaha.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re in the process of developing a whole new motorcycle so unfortunately we\u2019ve paid the price on that this season in terms of development on the current bike, but they understood that from the get-go. That was the whole idea of the new project. The issues that we have with the current project were not getting solved, so it takes a sharp turn like they\u2019ve done with the V4. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce we have more [V4] bikes on track, we\u2019ll be able to push that development a little bit more forward. In terms of a brand-new project, there\u2019s not much more you can ask for.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been busting their arse to get four [V4] bikes ready for us to ride in Valencia come [the test on] Tuesday [after the final race of the season] to be able to get that feedback that is obviously so crucial for the winter time. <\/p>\n \u201cTo have that project ready in that space of time with setbacks and so on, it would have been feasibly impossible for Yamaha or any other manufacturer to be developing [the existing] bike as well, the amount of manpower that you would need to do that would be impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n Miller has a strong record at Portimao; the 30-year-old has never qualified outside of the top five in Portugal in six attempts, has two podiums (second in 2020, third in 2021) to his name and had his best weekend of 2024 at the up-and-down track, qualifying and finishing fifth in both the sprint and Grand Prix for KTM. <\/p>\n He feels the characteristics of the track can help mitigate some of the weaknesses of Yamaha\u2019s machine relative to the opposition. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a track where I feel you can mask some of the issues with the bike, especially the issues we\u2019re having \u2013 we have a bike that\u2019s pretty solid in the front end, doesn\u2019t wheelie too much and turns really well, so if we can get it to do the right things that it does well, I believe we can be somewhat competitive this weekend,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cOur weight distribution is a lot more over the front than the other bikes so for a place like this, it works well. From my past experience around here, you can mask a bike\u2019s issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller ran at the front in both the sprint and Grand Prix in Portugal a year ago, finishing in the top five twice for KTM. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n RUSHING MARQUEZ RETURN TOO RISKY, SAYS DOCTOR<\/p>\n MotoGP\u2019s medical director Dr Angel Charte says Marc Marquez would have \u201cjeopardised his career\u201d by attempting to rush back from right shoulder surgery following his accident at the Indonesian Grand Prix in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marquez, who won his seventh MotoGP title at the Japanese Grand Prix in late September<\/a>, was taken out on lap one of the Grand Prix in Mandalika by Aprilia\u2019s Marco Bezzecchi, and underwent right shoulder surgery in Madrid early in October, an operation that required his right arm be \u201ccompletely immobilised\u201d for a month afterwards.<\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n