When extraordinary two-wheel performers return to the top class, after years, with the aim of excelling, a bad impression is always around the corner.
The current premier class no longer has a very long list of veterans. Suffice it to say that among the older ones there is Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia’s standard bearer for years, who was born in 1989. With the retirement of Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, many young centaurs have invaded the grid. The generational change has not brought the general public closer.
Fortunately, the Doctor did not have the temptation, after a couple of years, to get back on the saddle of a premier class prototype. He decided to dedicate himself to motor racing. His last year in the top class was stingy with satisfaction for the number 46 and alongside Andrea Dovizioso in the final part of the championship, he didn’t even get a podium. The latter is just the latest of many negative examples that have backtracked after hanging up their helmet. Following the Manufacturers’ World Championship won in Ducati in 2020, Dovi decided to give up.
When the opportunity arose to return during the 2021 MotoGP season aboard a Yamaha M1, in the Petronas satellite team, he didn’t think twice. His full-time return to the top class proved unsuccessful. Internal relations with team manager Razali were not positive. The following season, #4 chose to move away from a toxic environmentdefinitively closing the doors to the premier class after the Misano GP.
The most pathetic comebacks in the history of MotoGP
In 2015, after his experience in SBK, Marco Melandri decided to return to the saddle of an Aprilia in the MotoGP world championship. The combination didn’t work and the Italian barely registered a single point. The parties ended their conflict midway through the season. Bradley Smith, in Aprilia, scored only twelve points in eleven starts. At the height of his MotoGP career, Sete Gibernau challenged Valentino Rossi in 2003/04.
His return to MotoGP in the new Grupo Francisco Hernando team caused him ridicule. The team ran out of money and the Spaniard had to end the season early, hanging up his helmet. Gibernau’s best result in 6 races was eleventh place.
Chris Vermeulen competed in MotoGP from 2005 to 2009, snatching a victory with Suzuki. He returned to the track in the Forward Racing team, arriving at the rear. We have listed the best talents of the recent era in the premier class, but the MotoGP statistics are full of riders who took a step back after an initial retirement and accumulated terrible results on the track.
