The recent motorcycle racing past represented by Valentino Rossi remains unattainable to this day. Thanks to what he has been able to build in his career and in the media, the Doctor continues to be on the crest of a wave in terms of popularity as well. As many as 16.2 million is in fact the total number of his followers on Instagram. Numbers that none of his former colleagues seems for the moment to be able to match, not even his greatest rival of recent years in MotoGP. Not even that very same Marc Marquez who, reborn after his Jerez 2020 injury and the multiple health issues that followed, has just won his ninth world championship seal bringing himself on par with the ace from Tavullia.
Data in hand, the Cervera champion's followers number 8.2 million, half Vale's, but far greater than those of the other protagonists on the current grid. Suffice to say that the second rider most liked by Internet users, Fabio Quartararo, is stuck at 2.5 million. Simple, easy-going and with a lot of desire to have fun, in the space of a few seasons, Yamaha's French rider has been able to build a solid base of supporters, also thanks to an uncommon combativeness and a blunt character bordering on the politically incorrect, in contrast to the normally more diplomatic attitude of his rivals. Despite not loving or seeking visibility at all costs Pecco Bagnaia turns out to be the most followed Italian. On the social media platform dedicated to photos, there are 1.8 million users eagerly awaiting the Ducati rider's updates, while defending premier class champion Jorge Martin has accumulated 1.3 million. Marco Bezzecchi's fanbase is also respectable. The Aprilia rider, who has blossomed in this second half of the season, has increased his fan base to 719,000.
What is surprising, however, is not so much seeing the top class MotoGP starters racking up the fans, but the inclusion in this special ranking of a representative of SBK, a series that for a long time was simply considered an anteroom to retirement, a category in which riders now lacking the phisique du role to fight among the best, went to spend their final seasons in competition. Beloved by some and resented by others for the snarky skits that frequently accompanied his victories, Toprak Razgatlioglu has also written an important chapter in motorcycle racing because of his achievement.
Propelled by all of Turkey, but especially by his hometown of Alanya, the 29-year-old has touched 1.9 million followers. A figure significant enough in itself, which becomes more so when comparing with other big names in the discipline. Helped by his gradual transformation from rider to showman having to face up to (more or less) famous starlets of Italian TV and song, Andrea Iannone for now, however, has not gone beyond 1.5 million. Still better, however, than two other representatives of domestic motorcycle racing such as Ducati men Danilo Petrucci and Nicolò Bulega, who are at 549 thousand and 235 thousand followers, respectively.
Definitely far away are also the numbers of two big guns of the series such as two-time world champion Alvaro Bautista, who at 41 years of age will line up on the grid of next year's championship, riding the Ducati of the Barni team, currently on 423 thousand followers, and Jonathan Rea, the most successful ever among the production-based racing series with six World Championships to his name, unable to go beyond 457 thousand.
All home, family and golf, the Northern Irishman, in spite of his achievements on the track, has not been able to generate much appeal even among his fellow countrymen. Humble and discreet, he has always kept a low profile unlike the Turkish champion, who has sometimes been criticized precisely for being over the top and for his desire to "flex his muscles." Whether or not he has actually sinned of haughtiness so far is up to the individual to judge, what is certain is that he has been able to bring a category previously aimed at a small audience, to a much wider public and perhaps not even too passionate about the subject. Whether it will then become Razgatlioglumania as it was for Alberto Tomba or Marco Pantani in the 1990s by us will only be told by the future.