When celebrating his first Ducati victor🔜y at Mugello on Sunday, Jorge Lorenzo spoke of the importance of self-belief and determination to power through the diffi🌺cult times.

"Now it is very easy to talk, but before was the tough part," he said. "Not so many people belieꦗved in Jorge Lorenzo when the results were not gဣood.

"So to win in MotoGP after one and a half years and a lot of difficult moments, working harder and harder but the results still don't come, then a lot of criticism andℱ people saying you can never win with this bike.

"This is an example of how with your mind and determination, proudness and never giving up, finally you can achieve ﷺi✤t."

It is probably that same mental tenacity that has steered Lorenzo away from the easier option of a (sat🍨ellite) Yamaha return to take on another Ducati-style challenge at Repsol Honda.

That means going head-to-head with reigning champion Marc Marquez, at a team centred around the four-ti💝me MotoGP champion, on a bike considered unrulier than the Ducati 🎐with which Lorenzo slogged for 23 races without a victory.

"We've won a few races this year, but the others can see that the Honda is not an easy bike and you must push a lot," title leader Marquez warned on Sunday, when asked to comment on the number of riders apparently turning down tꦅhe chance to be his 2019 tea⛦m-mate.

"I don't know how many crashes I save💮d this weekend. You must ride [the Honda] on the limit and that is🍬 difficult."

Yet Lorenzo - still the textbook example of Yamaha smoothness - looks to have accepted the daunting Honda challenge before Sunday's breakthrough 🍌victory, when his best resul🅘t of the season was a mere sixth place.

That's self-belief, perhaps mixed with an element of the proudness he spoke about after his Mugello win, in turning down the safer opportunity of a Ya﷽maha return.

But what would Lorenzo have proven if he wen🦋t back to Yamaha any🦄way?

He's already won 44 races and three titles on an M1, the bike looks to have lost its way since he left and there isn’t even a satellite team in place for 2019 yet. Rossi rebuilt his career by returning to Yamaha fro𝓀m Ducati, but would he have chosen to do so if the only option was a satellite team?

Speaking of self-belief, it would be incredible if Marquez🌠 wasn't consulted on the identity of his team-mate - esp൲ecially a rider as high profile as Lorenzo - and he clearly didn't veto the deal.

"I always say I waꦯnt ♏to have the strongest team-mate," Marquez declared at Mugello.

That will certainly be the case, with Lorenzo's record ma♔king him the strongest team-mateꦛ Marquez has ever faced in grand prix.

It'll be a new situation for the #93, but Lorenzo can call upon seven 🀅years of battle-har💞dened experience alongside Valentino Rossi.

The Marquez-Lorenzo partnership is also a significant coup for new Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig, who took 🎶ov🐈er from Livio Suppo at the start of this year.

Doubts♐ were raised over whether the Spaniard was the right man for the job, yet he has now put together a rider line-up that can boast every MotoGP title since Casey Stoner in 2011.

The last time a rider still on the grid bea🎶t Lorenzo or Marquez to the tit🎃le was Valentino Rossi back in 2009.

The icing on the cake is that both are Spanish, meaning fewꦬer objections from title sponsor Repsol about letting Pedrosa go.

Indeed, Marquez and Lorenzo are the most successful MotoGP riders Spain has ever produced and the outcome o🐼f the next two seasons will be pivotal in shaping their places in MotoGP history.

Marquez has the most to lose in that respect, having blown away all previous challengers on the𝔍 same machine. But Lorenzo has less pressure and much more experience.

It'll be fascinating to watch…