Why they rank here
Six world championships: the 500cc title in 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955, and the 350cc title in 1951 and 1952. Duke won 33 Grands Prix and 50 podiums from 89 starts, 22 of the wins in the premier class, and was the first rider to take premier-class titles with two different manufacturers, Norton in 1951 and Gilera from 1953. He is also the sport's first genuine modernist: he commissioned a local tailor to make him a one-piece racing suit, replacing the two-piece leathers everyone else wore, and his smooth, low-drag style became the template for road racing technique. In 1956 the FIM suspended him for six months for supporting a riders' strike over start money, which cost him any chance of a fourth consecutive 500cc crown.
Career profile
Each bar shows how this athlete compares with the strongest in our all-time list for that metric.