All of Italy’s MotoGP world champions

Italy is a country synonymous with MotoGP, with seven riders winning the premier class world title since its inception in 1949.

The modern MotoGP World Championship, as we know it today, began in 1949 at the Isle of Man TT, which ran as the British Grand Prix until 1976.

The first two decades of grand prix world championship racing saw Italian brands Gilera and MV Agusta dominate, while Giacomo Agostini carved himself into the history books as an eight-time MotoGP title winner.

However, only three riders in MotoGP history from Italy have won back-to-back titles: Agostini, Valentino Rossi and Pecco Bagnaia.

Rossi is perhaps the most iconic of Italy’s world champions, with the flamboyant Italian growing MotoGP’s popularity through the 2000s and elevating himself as the greatest of all time for so many.

Since 1949, seven Italian riders have won a premier class world title, with only the United States matching this tally.

In 2026, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi will be gunning to be the eighth, as well as the first since Agostini to do so for an Italian manufacturer.

Below is the full list of riders Bezzecchi hopes to emulate this season.

Umberto Masetti - 1950 and 1952

Gilera

Italy’s first MotoGP world title came in the second year of the world championship in 1950 courtesy of Umberto Masetti.

From Borgo delle Rose, in the province of Parma, Masetti won twice in 1950 to claim a first premier class title, doing so for Gilera. In 1952, a further two victories - again in Belgium and the Netherlands - helped him to a second MotoGP crown.

Masetti continued racing through to 1958, switching to MV Agusta in 1955, finishing third in the standings that year after winning the Nations Grand Prix at Monza.

He claimed a final podium at the 1958 Nations Grand Prix before retiring from racing.

Libero Liberati - 1957

Gilera

Italy’s second MotoGP championship winner was crowned in 1957, when the Terni-born Libero Liberati took a Gilera to title success.

Winning the Italian championship in 1948, Liberati scored a first MotoGP podium in 1953 with Gilera at the Nations Grand Prix in third. A second-place followed in 1955 in France.

In 1957, racing for Gilera in the 350cc and 500cc categories, Liberati had a banner year. He finished runner-up in the 350cc standings, while four wins in the 500cc class netted him the championship.

Liberati was tragically killed in an incident in 1962, aged 35.

Giacomo Agostini - 1966-1972, 1975

MV Agusta, Yamaha

Perhaps the most famous name on this list, save for one other, Giacomo Agostini is a bona fide MotoGP legend.

Making his debut in grand prix racing in 1963, it would be the switch to MV Agusta from 1965 that would set Agostini on his path to MotoGP greatness.

His first world title came in 1966 in the MotoGP class, with Agostini - in an era where MV Agusta had little competition - utterly peerless between 1968 and 1970, winning every race he entered in the 350cc and 500cc classes.

He scored MotoGP titles in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 consecutively, as well as 350cc titles from 1968 to 1974.

In 1974, he moved from MV Agusta to Yamaha, winning the 350cc title that year, while a final MotoGP crown came in 1975 with the Japanese brand. That marked the first title success for a two-stroke bike in the premier class, Yamaha’s first and the first for a Japanese brand in the top class.

In total, Agostini won 15 world titles across the 350cc and 500cc classes, while his tally of eight MotoGP championships remains unbeaten as of the end of the 2025 season.

Marco Lucchinelli - 1981

Suzuki

The era of Italian manufacturer dominance in MotoGP had well and truly ended by the 1981 season, with Yamaha and Suzuki emerging as the best machinery in the previous years. But Italian riders remained frontrunners.

Italy put a brief pause on the growing US-born rider threat in 1981, following back-to-back titles for Kenny Roberts and Yamaha between 1978 and 1980.

Marco Lucchinelli made his grand prix debut in 1975, joining Suzuki in the premier class in 1976. A first win came in 1980 in Germany, acting as a precursor to his best MotoGP season in 1981.

Remaining with Suzuki, Lucchinelli won five times to claim the world title over fellow Suzuki rider Randy Mamola. Lucchinelli’s career tailed off in 1982 after moving to Honda, with the Italian scoring just two more podiums in two years with HRC, before making an unsuccessful switch to Cagiva between 1984 and 1986.

Franco Uncini - 1982

Suzuki

A year on from celebrating its first world champion since Agostini in 1975, Italy welcomed another in 1982.

Franco Uncini enjoyed strong results as a privateer in the late 1970s into the 1980s, before Suzuki offered him a factory-spec bike for the 1982 campaign, replacing 1981 world champion Lucchinelli.

Uncini’s path to the world title followed a similar pattern to Lucchinelli’s, with the Italian winning five times on his way to the crown. This would prove to be the height of Uncini’s career.

He suffered a serious incident at the Dutch TT in 1983 and ultimately retired at the end of the 1985 campaign. He later joined the FIM in prominent roles, including safety officer.

Valentino Rossi - 2001-2005, 2008-2009

Honda, Yamaha

Uncini’s world championship in 1982 would be the last for an Italian rider until 2001. Valentino Rossi had blazed a trail through the 125cc and 250cc ranks, winning the title in 1997 and 1999, before stepping up to MotoGP in 2000 with Honda.

Winning in his debut season, Rossi’s reign of dominance began in 2001 when he won his first MotoGP title. As MotoGP shifted into its four-stroke era in 2002, Rossi and Honda dominated the following two campaigns.

Growing unhappy with life at Honda, Rossi made a shock move to Yamaha for 2004, who hadn’t won a title since 1992. He duly dominated on the YZR-M1 that year, and did so again in 2005 to secure a fifth premier class title.

He suffered a narrow defeat to Nicky Hayden in 2006, while Casey Stoner and Ducati dominated in 2007. However, facing growing competition from younger riders, Rossi bounced back in 2008 to win a sixth world title, before claiming a seventh in 2009.

Only Agostini has more world titles in MotoGP than Rossi, while Spain’s Marc Marquez matched Rossi’s tally of seven only in 2025.

Rossi continued racing until the end of the 2021 season before making a full-time switch to car racing.

Serving stints with Honda, Yamaha, Ducati and then Yamaha again, Rossi won 89 times in MotoGP, scored 199 points and elevated MotoGP to a new position of popularity through much of the 21st Century.

Pecco Bagnaia - 2022-2023

Ducati

Italy’s declining form in grand prix racing following Rossi’s final MotoGP title in 2009 led to him forming the VR46 Riders Academy in 2014 to nurture young talent from his homeland.

Pecco Bagnaia represents that programme's most successful graduate. Racing for Rossi’s team in Moto2 in 2018, Bagnaia won the intermediate class crown before stepping up to MotoGP in 2019 with the Ducati-backed Pramac squad.

Bagnaia would win for the first time in 2021 following a move to Ducati’s factory team, before claiming his first world title - and ending Ducati’s drought dating back to 2007 - in 2022. He won a second MotoGP crown in 2023, again for Ducati.

It marked Italy’s first back-to-back MotoGP title since Rossi in 2008 and 2009, while the first for an Italian rider on Italian machinery since Agostini.