MotoGP: Title hopes fading but Aleix Espargaro can end 2022 with his head held high

Coming away from the San Marino MotoGP this weekend, it is increasingly hard to imagine that Aleix Espargaro will be able to claim the most remarkable of World Titles for himself and Aprilia this season.

Following a sixth place finish around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Sunday afternoon, it is now six races since Espargaro last stood on MotoGP podium.

By contrast, victory in San Marino for Pecco Bagnaia means the Ducati rider has now won each of the last four races, a run that has now seen him leapfrog Espargaro into the second in the world championship, 30 points behind defending champion Fabio Quartararo at the top of the table, with six races to go.

Given the ability to string a run of race wins together that Bagnaia, just as he did at the end of last season, is now showing, and the fact that those remaining races come at tracks that ought to suit the Italian’s Ducati, Espargaro now looks to be facing an uphill task, given his own ability to find podiums now looks to have deserted him.

But even if that does indeed prove to be the case over the course of the coming weeks that are set to round out the season, it is not something that should take anything away from the Spaniard’s remarkable efforts over the course of the campaign.

Prior to the start of this season, the Spaniard had managed a grand total of zero wins and just three podiums in 281 race starts across the various GP classes.

It goes without saying, therefore, that he had never come anywhere near close to challenging for a World title.

All that though has changed over the course of this year, starting with a brilliantly taken first MotoGP win, both for himself and Aprilia in Argentina in early April.

Then there was the run of four straight