Andrea Dovizioso

Andrea Dovizioso (born 23 March 1986) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer.

He raced with WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team for the 2022 season but announced his intended-retirement after the Misano round in September.

Dovizioso was the 125cc World Champion, but is best known for his time with the Ducati Team in the MotoGP class, finishing championship runner-up to Marc Márquez for three consecutive seasons in, and.

Dovizioso is one of the most successful modern MotoGP riders with 15 victories and 62 podiums.

Dovizioso first came to prominence by winning the 125 cc World Championship in.

He then finished third in the 250 cc World Championship in and was twice a runner-up to Jorge Lorenzo in and.

He is the only rider in history to win a MotoGP race in three different decades – 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.

He is nicknamed 'the Professor' due to his calculated riding approach.

Born in Forlimpopoli, son of Antonio Dovizioso, a Sicilian motorcycle racer, Dovizioso won the 125cc Italian Aprilia Challenge in 2000.

In 2001 Dovizioso won the 125cc European Championship and also competed in his first World Championship race at Mugello, in which he retired.

During that year he worked with Guido Mancini, a former rider and mechanic who, in the past, had worked with Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi.

In 2002, Dovizioso competed in the 125cc World Championship with Team Scot Honda, finishing 16th in the final standings.

His best results were two 9th places in Le Mans and Donington.

He continued with the team in 2003, finishing 5th in the final standings and achieving four podium finishes.

The 2004 season saw him pick up five victories and six other podium finishes on his way to winning the championship with 293 points.

In 2005 Dovizioso moved to the 250cc class, continuing with Team Scot Honda.

The season included five podium finishes and 3rd place in the overall standings.

He also won the Rookie of the Year award.

In 2006 he remained with the team, who were now renamed as Humangest Racing.

He won two races in Barcelona and Estoril and finished on the podium 11 times.

He fought for the championship until the final race of the season, but had to settle for 2nd place behind Jorge Lorenzo.

The 2007 season saw him win two races in Istanbul and Donington and challenge once again for the championship, but he finished in 2nd place once again.

On 15 September 2007, Dovizioso announced that he would be making the move up to the MotoGP class with his existing team in 2008.

On his premier class debut, Dovizioso achieved a highly credible fourth place, at the season opener in Qatar, passing Valentino Rossi on the final lap.

Throughout the season, Dovi was one of the most consistent Honda riders, placing 4th and 5th several times, and achieving a 3rd place podium finish at the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang.

Dovizioso finished 5th in the final standings.

For the season, Dovizioso became an official Repsol Honda rider replacing Nicky Hayden and partnering Spain's Dani Pedrosa.

He made his debut in MotoGP in 2008 and immediately finished 5th in the standings as the top satellite rider earning a move to the Factory Honda team in 2009.

In July 2009, Dovizioso won his first race in MotoGP at the British Grand Prix in wet conditions at Donington Park.

Despite otherwise consistent points finishes, Dovizioso ended up with fewer points than in his début season in the class, finishing sixth in the final standings.

Dovizioso had a strong start to his second season with the Repsol Honda team, picking up a podium in the season-opening race in Qatar.

Three more podiums followed early in the year before his results tailed off mid-season.

He moved to Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in and finished in 4th position getting six podiums which earned him a move to Factory Ducati team in 2013.

In Dovizioso recorded his first win in seven years in Malaysia.

In his three seasons with Repsol Honda, he scored 15 podiums, including a maiden MotoGP win at Donington Park, and had a highest championship position of 3rd in.

A documentary film about Mancini's career, released in 2016 by director Jeffrey Zani, tells the story of that racing season.

In 2017, he found the extra pace needed to challenge for the title with six wins throughout the season, but Marc Marquez, who also had six wins, clinched the title in the final round in Valencia.

The subsequent 2018 and 2019 seasons proved less successful, even though he managed to win six combined races and finished runner-up yet again to Marquez.

Dovizioso left Ducati after the 2020 season due to a breakdown in relations with the team.

Dovizioso finished within the top five in 10 of his first 13 MotoGP seasons and is considered one of the best MotoGP riders to not win the MotoGP World Championship.