San Marino: The starting block for MotoGP's vital period

San Marino (Italy): After a well-earned two-week break, the MotoGP World Championship riders are back as the paddock gets set for a gruelling nine races in 11 weeks.

The Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini signals the start of a vital period in 2020 and in the pre-event Press Conference, Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was joined by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Styrian GP winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3), the returning Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and MotoGP World Championship leader Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46).

Plenty of topics were touched upon as always, but one of the major talking points was the upcoming set of races that are so close together.

Nine weekends in the next 11 sees the Misano double-header become an incredibly vital couple of races for the Championship. Arguably, alongside the Catalan GP in two weeks, these next three weekends could be the most pivotal in terms of deciphering who really is in the title hunt.