Repsol Honda teammates Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa test the RC123V (Photo: HRC)

3. Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa is probably already the best MotoGP rider to have never won a title, and, considering the era that he's in and the relative ages of his primary rivals, it has to be viewed as a relatively strong possibility that he'll eventually go down as far and away the greatest MotoGP rider to never win the crown. Pedrosa battled through more health issues in '11, but when he's fit, he can take it to the world on his best days. However, exactly where he fits in at HRC going forward will be interesting to watch after Stoner swooped in and easily outclassed him from the very first day. Pedrosa is no longer the unquestioned golden boy at Honda and how that will impact his confidence and the RCV's development remain to be seen.

2. Jorge Lorenzo

Lorenzo endured a most difficult title defense in '11. After everything went so perfectly in '10, 2011 was a hard climb all the way, thanks in no small part by the marked improvements the rival '11 RC212V boasted, which made the once ideally-balanced M1 appear borderline obsolete on occasion. After taming his riding the year before, Lorenzo was pushed back over the limit on a regular basis in hopes of willing his way to the front. In the process he demonstrated that he's arguably the racer most capable of riding bikes that are not designed to be taken beyond their capabilities to that point, but as a result, he also hit the pavement more than once and ended the year on the shelf. Lorenzo can battle Stoner head-to-head -- he just needs equipment that actually allows him to do so.

1. Casey Stoner

Like it or not, Casey Stoner is an all-time great. Just 26 years old, Stoner now has two MotoGP crowns claimed in dominant fashion and ranks fifth in career MotoGP wins, ahead of all the American legends. As mentioned above, he's actually gotten the better of Valentino Rossi during their shared time in the category and by a considerable margin, and no one expects him to slow down anytime soon. And as stellar as his 10 win, 12 pole, 16 podium '11 title campaign was, just how amazing do his Ducati years seem in hindsight? Rossi's humbling further cements the notion that only Aussie Stoner has what it takes to tame that beast -- a bike that has ruined many promising (and glittering) careers but one that Stoner somehow found a way on which to shine. Caustic, shy, irritable, whatever… the guy is a damn fine motorbike racer -- one of the best we've ever seen.

SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.