Enea Bastianini celebrates his 28th birthday: the gift awaits him at KTM

Today Bastianini celebrates his birthday and is also ready to wrap up a challenging 2025: he has a clear idea of what he wants for the 2026 MotoGP season.

The switch from Ducati to KTM turned out to be tougher than Enea Bastianini had imagined when he signed the contract. The Desmosedici GP and the RC16 are quite different bikes, and the rider from Rimini found himself facing a complicated adaptation process. There were some flashes of brilliance, but he wasn’t able to hit the targets he had set for himself.

The first part of the season was complex; Bastianini had to get used to many new things and, by his own admission, he tried to revolutionize the KTM RC16 rather than focus on fully adapting to it. Making it similar to the Ducati was impossible, and things started to improve when he decided to make the most of the technical package available, forgetting about the Desmosedici GP24.

The Czech Republic Grand Prix seemed like a turning point, as he climbed onto the podium in the Sprint and had the potential to do so in the race as well, where he crashed. He also showed good competitiveness in Spielberg, Balaton, and Barcelona (race podium). But from Misano, his home round, there was a step backward, and the end of the 2025 MotoGP season wasn’t what he and the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team had hoped for. It’s worth recalling there was also the sudden split from his crew chief Alberto Giribuola. In 2026 he will be followed by Andrés Madrid, formerly with Brad Binder, who will be joined in the box by Phil Marron.

From the start of the season, Bastianini explained he had problems related to his seating position. He didn’t feel comfortable on the bike, and that affected him a lot. KTM tried to accommodate him regarding ergonomics, and there has been some improvement. In the last test at Valencia he was given a new seat, and the initial feelings were positive, but it will need to be tried again in Sepang and Buriram to understand whether the direction taken is the right one.

Not feeling comfortable on the bike is a major issue and can cause others. Throughout 2025 Enea struggled a lot on the flying lap; he rarely managed to exploit the extra grip of the soft tire in qualifying and sprints. He often started from the back, which condemned him to comeback races. It must be said he frequently showed good race pace and still had the ability to manage the tires well to be fast in the second half of the race, but launching from a rear grid position makes everything more complicated.

With Ducati, one of his strengths was corner entry; with KTM he has had great difficulties in this area and was forced to change his riding style. He has repeatedly explained that he doesn’t have enough grip, which also happened on corner exit, making him not effective enough in acceleration.

Bastianini has made it clear to KTM and the Tech3 team what his needs are; everything is clear. Now it’s a matter of seeing whether he will be accommodated. He wants to be a protagonist in 2026 and hopes to have an RC16 in his hands with which he can feel more at ease.

While waiting to understand whether the Mattighofen manufacturer will meet him halfway or focus mainly on Pedro Acosta, today Enea celebrates his 28th birthday. When he has to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the cake, he’ll know exactly what he wants: to bounce back and be competitive with KTM in 2026. With his contract expiring like almost all MotoGP riders, he wants to achieve important results to secure a good seat for 2027.

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