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Start Your Free Trial Today ><\/a><\/p>\n They\u2019re just a smattering of the storylines that have defined the first half of the 2026 season while keeping MotoGP fans and the sport\u2019s insiders on their toes, rubbing their eyes in disbelief or shaking their heads, in no particular order. <\/p>\n And they set up an unpredictable and intriguing final run to the finish line of this season \u2013 and MotoGP\u2019s 1000cc era \u2013 in Valencia in late November, before riders scatter to pastures new and the 850cc-powered bikes of the future era finally become its present after being on the horizon for over two years. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n MORE POINTS \u2026 MORE CRASHES<\/a> The equation that threatens to derail MotoGP\u2019s championship leader<\/p>\n CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE<\/a> Breaking down the contenders in MotoGP\u2019s tightest title fight yet<\/p>\n With teams and manufacturers trying to thread the needle on prioritising any race or title-winning chances this year with an eye to what\u2019s next, it\u2019s a delicate balancing act some will topple over trying to achieve. For the riders who are about to climb off a bike they know can win now for one they might \u2013 maybe \u2013 achieve success on down the road, the next 11 rounds could define careers, cement (or spoil) legacies and bolster future earnings and status in equal measure. <\/p>\n In a season as scattered as this one, predicting what storylines will be the ones to follow from this weekend\u2019s return at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix onwards is fraught with peril. But 2026 is all about being bold and brave, so we\u2019re in. <\/p>\n Our pick of the plots still to play out? These.<\/p>\n MARQUEZ VS MARQUEZ<\/p>\n No, not a reprisal of the 2025 title \u2018fight\u2019, quotation marks necessary after Marc Marquez secured his seventh premier-class world championship<\/a> with five rounds remaining in Japan after his advantage over younger brother Alex swelled to 201 points; that the elder Marquez\u2019s winning margin was \u2018just\u2019 78 points at season\u2019s end was down to his shoulder injury and subsequent surgery after crashing in the next round in Indonesia. <\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Renita, Michael and Matt catch up with Australian Moto3 rider Joel Kelso, check in with Supercars series leader Matt Payne, and look at the MotoGP and F1 seasons after halfway through the 2026 calendar. | Listen to <\/a>Pit Talk<\/a> | Watch the podcast<\/a> on YouTube<\/p>\n That latest operation on the mangled right side of the 33-year-old\u2019s body compromised the pre-season of his 2026 title defence, and led to another surgery \u2013 to clean out a screw that had broken and was impinging on his radial nerve after round five in France, where he also broke his right foot \u2013 which saw him miss the Catalan Grand Prix, and then fall to 102 points behind championship leader Marco Bezzecchi after he returned with a muted seventh at Mugello in late May.<\/p>\n Given the largest deficit overcome in the MotoGP era to win a title was the 91-point head-start Ducati\u2019s Francesco Bagnaia gave Yamaha\u2019s Fabio Quartararo before winning the 2022 title, over 100 points would be a mountain too high to climb for most riders. But once again Marquez has proved he\u2019s the exception to most rules, moving to within 18 points of new series leader Jorge Martin \u2013 and already back ahead of Bezzecchi \u2013 after his win in the German Grand Prix, his third in four rounds heading into the mid-season break<\/a>. <\/p>\n Marquez is still physically underdone, and spent plenty of his off-season break training to regenerate the muscle and stamina in the right side of his body that he said had been \u201csleeping\u201d for most of the year\u2019s first half. <\/p>\n He\u2019s back in the fight as one of the five riders within 24 points \u2013 less than one Grand Prix victory \u2013 of Martin, and with championship know-how and proof of process, he\u2019ll be hard for his rivals to beat from here. <\/p>\n Perhaps Marquez\u2019s biggest challenge? Keeping the handbrake on his ambition and impulses, and staying as injury-free as possible. The oldest of the title-chasing quintet, it\u2019s logical that he doesn\u2019t handle crashes as well as he once did, and he\u2019s already crashed nearly as many times this year (11) as the whole of last (14)<\/a> in his attempts to keep up. <\/p>\n Marquez is the logical favourite from here, but there\u2019s always the chance he could be his own worst enemy. There\u2019ll be falls \u2013 this is MotoGP in 2026, after all \u2013 but how he bounces back from them is the bigger story. <\/p>\n Marquez confirmed his status as king of the Sachsenring last time out; is another title in the offing come November, too? (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n CAN APRILIA KEEP IT TOGETHER?<\/p>\n Aprilia\u2019s RS-GP is the best bike on the MotoGP grid; that\u2019s more fact than opinion, given Aprilia\u2019s four riders have shared six Grand Prix wins and four sprint victories in 11 rounds so far. <\/p>\n That\u2019s not in question, but the staying power of that aforementioned quartet is. <\/p>\n Is Aprilia\u2019s best title chance Martin, who is leaving for Yamaha at the end of the year, has been the slowest Aprilia for the past two rounds, and can vacillate wildly from a perfect weekend (winning the sprint and Grand Prix in France) to a putrid one<\/a> (five total crashes and no points in Barcelona one round later) in no time at all?<\/p>\n Might Aprilia\u2019s best title hope be second-year rising star Ai Ogura<\/a>, just 14 points from the series lead after 11 rounds, a rider who crashes less than half as often as his championship rivals, and someone with better momentum than any rider not named Marc Marquez? <\/p>\n Or is Marco Bezzecchi\u2019s first four rounds \u2013 which featured three Grand Prix wins and 101 points \u2013 the norm rather than the past four, where crashes and controversies<\/a> have seen him amass a paltry 13 points from Hungary to Germany<\/a>? <\/p>\n Being in title contention has been a long, long time coming for a manufacturer that was once MotoGP\u2019s doormat<\/a>, and with the uncertainty of the biggest regulation reset since 2012 just months away, there\u2019s no telling when \u2013 or if \u2013 that chance will come around for Aprilia again. <\/p>\n Were it not for the threatening spectre of Marquez, an Aprilia rider would be odds-on to take the title in 11 rounds\u2019 time. But with the screws tightening, which of Aprilia\u2019s title contenders \u2013 all legitimate ones in their own ways \u2013 will be able to hold the line? <\/p>\n Martin has championship pedigree, but Aprilia may have more stable options if it\u2019s to win the title. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n RIDERS SERVING OUT TIME<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all been there, serving out time with an employer we\u2019ve decided to move on from, but one we\u2019re obliged to stay with per the fine print in a contract or because of company protocol.<\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n NEWS WRAP <\/a> Achilles\u2019 heel behind stunning fall, \u2018strange\u2019 truth in contender\u2019s rapid surge<\/p>\n EXPLAINER<\/a> The ripple effects from MotoGP\u2019s month of rider market madness<\/p>\n It\u2019s no different for the 11 \u2013 at least \u2013 riders who have been announced as changing teams or manufacturers (or both) for 2027 in the past month<\/a>, let alone the likes of Alex Rins and (likely) Jack Miller and Maverick Vinales, for whom the final 11 rounds of the season are likely to double as their last laps in the world championship. <\/p>\n While some partings are likely to be copacetic \u2013 it\u2019s hard to imagine Francesco Bagnaia\u2019s long association with Ducati that has yielded two world titles and 31 victories over eight seasons being anything other than amicable \u2013 there\u2019ll be more tense goodbyes elsewhere, where riders who have tolerated their predicaments with thinly-veiled contempt for years having no reason to hold back or toe the party line. <\/p>\n Fabio Quartararo\u2019s dismay with Yamaha might be edited less than usual now his move to Honda for 2027 is confirmed<\/a>, while Pedro Acosta\u2019s frustrating three-season wait for a maiden win with KTM might magnify before he heads to Ducati next year. <\/p>\n Of the title contenders, Martin is a watch for this very reason; the Spaniard\u2019s two-year tenure at Aprilia has rarely been bereft of drama, and trading in this year\u2019s best bike for its worst in 2027<\/a> might unlock an emotional response even by Martin standards if the wheels on his championship wagon begin to wobble.<\/p>\n Quartararo\u2019s frustration is likely to escalate as he serves out his time with Yamaha. (Photo by Jure Makovec \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n QATAR\u2019S CALENDAR CONUNDRUM<\/p>\n Those 11 rounds we mentioned earlier? That includes the Qatar Grand Prix set for November 6-8 as the 20th round of 22 this season; the race at Lusail was set to take place from April 10-12 as round four, but was moved to November<\/a> because of the conflict in the Middle East at the time. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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