# Who is the most controversial rider in MotoGP history?

> Penalty points, stewards' rooms and press conferences that got out of hand. Being right and being popular were rarely the same thing here.

*By YPB Team · Published August 29, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-most-controversial-rider-in-motogp-history*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Valentino Rossi**
   Took three penalty points and a back-of-the-grid start at the 2015 finale after the contact with Marquez at Sepang.
2. **Marc Marquez**
   Accused by rivals of riding too close for years, and at the centre of the 2015 title row.
3. **Max Biaggi**
   Traded punches with Rossi at Catalunya in 2001 and spent a decade feuding with half the paddock.
4. **Jorge Lorenzo**
   Blunt in press conferences and the loudest critic of rivals' riding standards.
5. **Andrea Iannone**
   Served a four-year ban after a 2019 doping test that he blamed on contaminated meat.
6. **Romano Fenati**
   Reached across and grabbed a rival's front brake lever at Misano in 2018 and lost his ride.
7. **Anthony West**
   Banned twice for doping violations during a long grand prix and superbike career.
8. **Sete Gibernau**
   Told by Rossi at Jerez in 2005 that he would never win again, and did not.
9. **Johann Zarco**
   Handed penalties for a 2020 Austrian Grand Prix crash that sent a bike over two riders' heads.
10. **Casey Stoner**
   Retired at 27 while criticising the direction of the championship in public.
11. **Kevin Schwantz**
   Ended up in a long legal fight with the promoter of the Circuit of the Americas over the US round.
12. **Barry Sheene**
   Led rider protests over circuit safety and said so in public while he was still winning.
13. **Kenny Roberts**
   Tried to break away from the world championship in 1979 and set up a rival series.

Tags: motogp, racing, motorsport, riders