Rome: Valentino Rossi's rivals face a battle to keep up with the MotoGP world champion on the track and an impossible task to match him off it going into Sunday's season-opening race in Qatar.
The Italian already has the pretenders to his throne under pressure before a competitive lap has been run after clocking the fastest times in two of the three pre-season tests on his Yamaha.
"The pre-season has gone well for me," Rossi, who won his ninth world title last season and his seventh in the premium class, told reporters ahead of the floodlit night race in the desert near Doha.
"Yamaha and [tyre-makers] Bridgestone have done a great job and we have been fast. We have only had six days on track so we still have work to do and things to learn about the new bike, but we are starting in good shape."
Strongest entry list
This year's entry list looks one of the strongest ever, with 13 of the 17 riders having won a world championship at some level in grand prix racing or superbikes while 16 of them are race winners.
A main challenger is expected to be Australia's Ducati riding 2007 world champion Casey Stoner, who has recovered from the health problems that disrupted him last season and is looking strong again.
Stoner has won the last three races in Qatar, including the two held at night, and was dominant from pole to flag last year.
Rossi's Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, last year's runner-up, is likely to be another although the Spaniard is still not 100 per cent fit after injuring his hand in a motorcross training accident.
"Obviously Valentino will be in the battle, and then I think Stoner will be too," Carmelo Ezpeleta, the head of commercial rights holders Dorna, said.
"Maybe with Lorenzo it depends on how he recovers from his injury," said Ezpeleta, adding that Dani Pedrosa's chances of making a title bid depended greatly on Honda's ability to give him a competitive bike.
But while Stoner and Lorenzo might be tough competitors for Rossi on a bike, there is no contest when it comes to charisma.
