WATCH: 2020 MotoGP Preview – Can anyone defeat Marc Marquez?

It’s been a long – very long - wait but after almost four months of impatience the 2020 MotoGP World Championship is finally ready to get underway

Indeed, with all the pre-season testing, predictions and posturing seeming to be a distant memory now, this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP in Jerez heralds the start of what promises to be a unique and no doubt thrilling season.

To be run over 13 rounds (possibly more or less depending on ever evolving coronavirus concerns), it means there is no chance for the riders to be complacent or build momentum, they will need to be on it from round one this weekend.

Then again, with injuries set to cost more in a tightly-packed week-in, week-out schedule, there is no room for mistakes either.

As ever, Marc Marquez comes into the season with a target fixed firmly to his back as rivals attempt to find a single chink in that solid armoury. As it happens, Marquez’s biggest rival could be himself having spent the winter recovering from a shoulder injury – his second in two years – while the Honda RC213V remains something of an unknown quantity following a late re-think in testing.

As such, Yamaha and Suzuki have risen to the fore in testing with Maverick Vinales the hot tip this weekend, while young Fabio Quartararo and his legion of new fans is surely close to that maiden win now. Then of course there is Valentino Rossi as he prepares for his final factory season.

They say the waiting is the hardest part, so with the hardest part over with, let’s enjoy some racing! We’ve earned this…