It is done. The 2021 MotoGP World Championship with the Valencia Grand Prix.
The Circuit Ricardo Tormo de Cheste will once again host the end of the MotoGP season, after a year in which it was Portimao that was responsible for closing the bikers' party.
Fabio Quartararo was already crowned MotoGP
world champion at Misano and Pedro Acosta claimed the title in the Algarve, but there is still an open battle for Valencia. Raúl Fernández has options to take the Moto2 World Championship from Remy Gardner, although he also needs to overcome a serious setback from the Australian.
Cheste's will be Valentino Rossi's final MotoGP race
After the Portimao race there are not many battles open in MotoGP, as Ducati ended the world of brands and Pecco Bagnaia was second. The only world championship that remains open is the team championship, where the Ducati official leads Yamaha by 28 points. In Iwata they would practically need a miracle.
The good thing for them is that, a priori, Cheste should be a favourable circuit for Yamaha. Franco Morbidelli won one of the races last season, and it's that the twisty nature of the Valencia circuit historically favours in-line engines. Although there are some drawbacks to this theory.
The first is that there are several rain options
and we already know that in this terrain Ducati makes the difference. The latest forecasts predict that there may be water on both, although nothing is certain.
In Valencia Marquez will not return from his concussion while riding motocross after it was confirmed that he is suffering from diplopia again which will also rule him out of next week's post-season test in Jerez.
Another name to follow all weekend will be Joan Mir, who last season lived a dream in Valencia. He won his first MotoGP race and was declared world champion on repeat. After a great race in Portimao, he faces his last chance to win at least one Grand Prix in 2021.
Finally, you cannot ignore what will surely be the main theme of this Valencia Grand Prix. It will be Valentino Rossi's final race as a MotoGP rider, as he hangs up his helmet after 26 memorable World Cup seasons. Surely there is already a big firework preparing to blow you away.
Dani Pedrosa is the rider who has won the most at Cheste.
This season will be the 23rd Valencia Grand Prix held at the Ricardo Tormo de Cheste circuit, and the 24th MotoGP race if we include last year's European Grand Prix. No year, not even due to COVID-19, has Valencia been off the MotoGP calendar since 1999.
And this circuit has a clear dominant. Dani Pedrosa is the rider who has won the most races at Cheste with a total of seven, four of them in MotoGP. Counting just the top division, he would be tied with another Spanish contemporary, Jorge Lorenzo, who also amasses a poker haul.
curiously neither Marc Márquez nor Valentino Rossi have ever had an overly affectionate relationship with Valencia and both have obviously won. The Spaniard did it in 2014 and 2019 in the premier class and in 2012 in Moto2, while Rossi only has wins in 2003 and 2004, one with Honda and the other with Yamaha.
By brand Honda wins with ten wins at Cheste, ahead of Yamaha with eight. Although it is reiterated that Valencia is not a circuit for Ducati, they have won there three times, with Troy Bayliss, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, while the other two victories are for Suzuki with Joan Mir and Sete Gibernau.
To watch the Valencia Grand Prix live there are two alternatives
DAZN is still the sole holder of MotoGP rights in Spain, but Movistar + will broadcast the entire Grand Prix signal on DAZN's channel 1, following the agreement reached by both platforms. In addition, MotoGP VideoPass will always be available.
Traditional routes are returning to Valencia. The Moto3 and Moto2 championships will be decided.. The weather forecast shows that we will have a somewhat cool weekend with some chance of rain which could add a lot of flavor to the Moto2 analysis.