MotoGP™ journalists give their views on 2013 season

Speaking first on the title favourites…

Matt Birt, MCN
"I think it’s definitely going to be a fight between Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. We saw last year that aside from those guys, expect Casey, were head and shoulders above the other guys, and it will be interesting to see how Valentino back on the Yamaha is going to do."

Günther Weisinger, Speedweek
"Title contenders….Lorenzo, Pedrosa…and Rossi."

Henny Ray Abrams, Cycle News
"I think there are three, and they are Dani Pedrosa, Marc Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo in no particular order."

And then on Valentino’s return to Yamaha…

Enrico Borghi, Motosprint
"Valentino will be big news this year. I trust in him a lot, I think he’ll be on the podium. But I know him very well – in his mind, he’s working to be No 1 again. He doesn’t want to say, but he thinks…he wants to try."

About rookie Marc Márquez…

José Maroto, Motociclismo
"He [Márquez] will be on the podium from the first race and he’ll be fighting for the victory quite soon."

Henny Ray Abrams, Cycle News
"I think he’ll win a handful of races. If you remember back to 2008, I believe, when Jorge came in, he was on pole the first three races and finished third, second, first. It will be tough for Márquez to do that, but no one believes he can’t."

And who else might surprise…

Matt Birt, MCN
"I think that Cal acknowledges the fact he’s got to step up this year. Andrea last year had six podiums, Cal two, and I think Cal’s got to be looking at matching that number of podiums Andrea had. But it’s going to be tough. MotoGP gets harder every year. But I think he could be a big surprise."

Henny Ray Abrams, Cycle News
"I think Stefan Bradl’s going to be better than he was last year. I think he’ll be towards the front of the second group after the three fastest guys."

To find out all their responses and what they expect from Ducati this year, check out the full video here on motogp.com!