Valentino Rossi only just missed a tenth Grand Prix World title this year but he was voted the runaway winner of the bikesportnews.com MotoGP Rider of the Year poll, grabbing 58.73 per cent of the votes.

The Movistar Yamaha man took more votes than everyone else combined in the poll, which saw team-mate Jorge Lorenzo come in second with 12.35 per cent and Britain’s Bradley Smith third on 10.01 per cent after his championship sixth place in 2015.

Ducati’s Andrea Iannone nicked fourth spot with 5.12 per cent, just ahead of Dani Pedrosa on 4.67 per cent.