“Rossi was super-smart but Marquez has one thing that the others don’t…”

Marquez goes into the 2023 MotoGP season knowing that another championship would equal Rossi’s seven.

The rivalry in the era that included Rossi and Lorenzo has been reopened by Marquez’s Amazon Prime Video documentary where he charts the most notorious moments.

• Marquez names and shames the rider who didn’t “support me” before surgery

Lorenzo said on Spanish TV: “Who is the best rider? I competed against great stars: Casey Stoner, Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Marquez. 

“For me, from the MotoGP class, since before it was the 500cc two-stroke class, I think the five of us were the best.

“Rossi was super-smart, he could improvise very well in every situation during the race. Beating him one on one was very difficult. 

“But Marquez has one thing that the others don't: he's not afraid of crashing... and hitting someone like that is hard. 

“But for me, Marc Marquez is still the best despite his injuries and the Honda being uncompetitive.”

• Lorenzo on Rossi downfall: “If you feel strong? You don’t talk about this stuff"

A two-year injury nightmare seems to be coming to an end, meaning Marquez’s greatest hurdle in 2023 could be the performance of his Repsol Honda bike in a quest to overthrow the dominant Ducatis and end Francesco Bagnaia’s title reign.

Three-time champion Lorenzo also opened up about his own fears, and how they grew with age: “In 99% of the time of my career as a rider I wasn't afraid. 

“On two or three occasions I was afraid to continue competing, but over time I overcame it and returned to the tracks, winning races and world championships.

“In the last years of competition - at 28, 30, 32 years old - I was equally fast, or even more, in dry and safe conditions. 

“But when I had to go with dry tyres in mixed conditions, with puddles of water, which are the most dangerous conditions in which at any moment you fly off and get injured, at 30 or 32 years I wanted to be fast, full throttle. 

“In the races I lost a lot of points - I was 14th, 15th, 16th. When I was 20 I won the race.”