If you were under any illusion about how different the sports of road racing and short circuit racing are, this story will further illustrate how different the two worlds are. Could you imagine Marc Marquez pulling up to the Mugello GP next weekend, still unsure whether he's going to ride a Ducati or a Honda in the main race? Of course, that would never happen, but it can, and is happening at the Isle of Man TT in 2026.
Unlike MotoGP riders, who generally have a rise and fall in terms of competitiveness, it's much harder to tell when a great TT rider has won his last race. Take Joey Dunlop winning at the TT in 2000, at 48 years old, after seemingly being in decline since the early 90s. With that in mind, it's not hard to understand why all eyes are on the winningest TT rider of all time, Michael Dunlop.
