With Casey Stoner ill and Dani Pedrosa recovering from injury, the 2009 MotoGP season distilled into a head to head between established legend Valentino Rossi and his rising star team-mate Jorge Lorenzo

By the end of the year, they had become known as 'the aliens'. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner - the four riders who monopolised the top four in virtually every practice session, every qualifying hour and every race. Try as they might, the rest of the field found this foursome nearly unbeatable, and it wasn't unusual to see a one second gulf from the top four to the best of the rest.

When it came to the title battle, that quartet soon dwindled to a duo. Pedrosa began the year battered from a winter of falls and injuries, and was hamstrung by a Honda only occasionally capable of beating Yamaha and Ducati. Stoner led the championship after Mugello, but then an enervating illness saw his season fall apart.

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