Sprint races, a final round title showdown, trials, tribulations and sensations - that was the year 2023 in MotoGP... but who were the big standouts? This is BSN's Top 10 MotoGP Riders of the 2023.

Into the top six and we have Alex Marquez…

Perhaps the nicest outcome from Alex Marquez’s breakthrough MotoGP campaign in 2023 was that it seemed to surprise the man himself the most.

That’s not to say the Spaniard - one of only two riders together with brother Marc to have both a Moto3 and Moto2 World Championship title to his name - lacks the credentials to mingle within MotoGP’s upper echelon.

But after three difficult seasons on the Honda, it wasn’t difficult to see he lacked self-belief upon making the switch to Gresini Racing and the year-old Ducati GP22 package.

And yet, if Marquez on a Ducati came into the season as one of the more intriguing unknowns, it would take no time at all for him to prove he had in fact developed into something of a diamond while roughing it on that tough Honda package.

A podium in the wet during Round 2 in Argentina went a long way to steady the nerves, while Marquez quickly established himself as broadly on a par with his highly-rated Ducati stablemates in terms of single lap and race pace.

He didn’t make things easy at times, however, Marquez tallying up a number of costly DNFs during the first-half of the year, while he’d also go on to miss three events through injury too.

However, he enjoyed the distinction of scoring his maiden ‘first on the road’ success with a Sprint victory at Silverstone before following it up with a second ‘short’ win at Sepang. He’d also go on to add another podium to his collection during the full-length GP race in Malaysia too.

A season to prove critics - not least himself - wrong, while it is unfair to continuously draw comparisons between the brothers Marquez, few would have begrudged Alex his long-awaited turn as the Marquez basking in the spotlight this time.

7 - Luca Marini

8 - Johann Zarco

9 - Fabio di Giannantonio

10 - Aleix Espargaro