Lorenzo to join Ducati from 2017 MotoGP season

It started with the great Giacomo Agostini revealing that Ducati had offered a 'super deal' to defending MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo. The resulting speculation has given way to confirmation of the Spaniard leaving Yamaha - with whom he won three world championships - to join the Italian marque on a two-year contract with the option for a third year.

Lorenzo made his MotoGP debut with Yamaha in 2008 and won the riders' championship in 2010, 2012 and last year. His success with the team even prompted his current teammate Valentino Rossi to move to Ducati for two seasons from 2011 after his demand for number one status was turned down.

Ducati have made legitimate steps forward with their MotoGP challenger and have been on the lookout for a top rider to lead development in their quest to return to winning ways. Following Casey Stoner's departure in 2011, Rossi's two-year stint with the team resulted only in two podiums before he returned to Yamaha in 2013.

Yamaha's MotoGP bosses had openly admitted to the possibility of Lorenzo leaving the team in 2017 as well as to actively looking for a replacement.

Suzuki's Maverick Vinales is believed to be Yamaha's first choice to fill the impending vacancy in their team alongside Rossi who is contracted to be with the Japanese squad until the end of the 2018 season.

Ducati are likely to have their work cut out in deciding whether Andrea Dovizioso or Andrea Iannone is asked to make way for Lorenzo. Both riders have contracts that expire at the end of the season and it could only be towards the end of the season that we find out who Lorenzo's teammate will be.

Iannone is four years younger to Dovizioso and is fast but also prone to making the odd silly errors like the one at this year's Argentina Grand Prix that resulted in a double retirement for Ducati.