Italians desperately need to brush up on their motorsports knowledge then
With Oliveira and A Marquez he was basically seen as the main contender, especially after already being rookie of the year last year. Newcomer in the wider sense, sure, that's acceptable, and I guess unexpected is ok too for people who associate motorsports only with Valentino Rossi and never watch any of the other races
For next year's Moto2: Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini, Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini and Lorenzo Baldassarri....none of them would be an unexpected world champion, Italy as always has a shitload of riders with title chances in the Moto3 and Moto2