Giacomo Agostini

The immensely talented Giacomo Agostini, is considered to be one of the best riders of all times. With a spectacular career spanning nearly 14 years, the popular Italian has 15 titles to his credit, eight of these in 500cc and the remaining seven in 350cc. This makes his total Grand Prix victories an impressive 122.

Picking speed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was the peak period of his career. Agostini's talent and control was evident with very few crashes in his career, and he remained a strong driver throughout most of it.

Agostini was especially good in European hill-climb events, and much of his fame can be attributed to his performance in these. In 1964, he appeared for two World Championships for the Morini team, in the 250cc class. Agostini was later recruited by MV Agusta as their full time rider for the following year, and was placed as an understudy to Mike Hailwood on 350cc and 500cc bikes.

During his first season with MV Agusta, Agostini had race wins in both classes and ended up with a runner up position in both. In 1966, after he won the last race of the year in 500cc class, he won his first World Championship title. In 1967, once again Agostini came in second in the 350cc championship and earned the title once more in the last round in the 500cc championship.

After Honda left the Grands Prix in 1967, Agostini completely took over, and won double World titles, in the 350cc and 500cc classes, for five consecutive seasons, starting from 1968 on till 1972.

In 1973, he only took the 350cc championship title, which was to be his last title win with MV Augusta, and his team mate Phil Read, took over the 500cc title crown.

In 1974, Agostini move to Yamaha and won the Daytona 200 event at the start of the year, beating greats like Kenny Roberts Sr., and went on to win the 1974 350cc title and the his final title win, the 1975 500cc championship. 1977 was Giacomo Agostini's last season, having proven his mettle in both 350cc and 500cc classes. His last ever win was in Germany's Nurburgring in the year 1976.