Andrea Dovizioso
Andrea Dovizioso finished runner-up in the MotoGP world championship three times between 2017 and 2019, riding for Ducati, becoming the rider who most consistently pushed Marc Márquez during the Spaniard's era of dominance without ever quite landing the title himself.
Andrea Dovizioso won the 125cc world championship in 2004 before working his way up through the 250cc class and into MotoGP, where he spent years with Honda and Yamaha before joining Ducati's factory team in 2013.
His Ducati years produced the best results of his career: Dovizioso finished runner-up in the MotoGP world championship three consecutive times, from 2017 to 2019, riding a factory Ducati against Marc Márquez's Honda in what became the era's most consistent title rivalry, even though he never converted it into a championship of his own.
Dovizioso retired from full-time MotoGP racing in 2022 after a career spanning more than two decades and several manufacturers, and subsequently took up off-road rally raid racing, including competing in the Dakar Rally.
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Dovizioso was championship runner-up to Marc Márquez in 2017, 2018, and 2019, riding Ducati's factory MotoGP machine — the closest sustained title challenge Márquez faced during his most dominant years.
Before reaching the premier class, Dovizioso won the 125cc world title in 2004, part of a strong generation of young Italian riders that also included Casey Stoner's early rivals and contemporaries.
The nickname combines his surname with 'Desmo', a reference to Ducati's signature desmodromic valve technology, reflecting how closely his career and identity became tied to the Italian manufacturer during his most successful seasons.
Among Dovizioso's most memorable results was passing Márquez at the final corner of the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix, a move that became emblematic of his direct, wheel-to-wheel rivalry with the sport's dominant champion of the era.
After ending his premier-class career, Dovizioso competed in off-road rally raid events including the Dakar Rally, a significant change of discipline from the tarmac circuits where he made his name.