Pecco Bagnaia makes it clear: "With Marquez, it's hard to believe

Pecco Bagnaia must sweep away the ghosts of the 2025 MotoGP season. Until the previous championship he had focused on a single rival. Now he has had to reckon with Alex and Marc Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi, and Pedro Acosta. On tracks that used to be his stronghold, like Misano, the Piedmontese rider encountered too many difficulties, while "MM93" was smiling from the winner's podium.

Ducati tried to accommodate Bagnaia’s requests by making small tweaks to the Desmosedici GP25. But due to the concessions regulations, the Italian manufacturer was unable to help the two-time MotoGP champion out of the tough situation, for example with new frame variants. The 2026 season, the last of the 1000cc era, will be decisive for Pecco, who will have to adapt to the GP26 without too many excuses. His contract renewal with the Borgo Panigale team is also at stake. It’s no secret that his seat is highly coveted by rising young talents such as Alex Marquez, Pedro Acosta, Fermin Aldeguer, and others.

For Ducati it was a “sui generis” year. The garage balanced joy and euphoria over Marc Marquez’s wins with Pecco Bagnaia’s despair, always far from the front. Aside from a few flashes, like the weekend in Japan or the Sprint in Malaysia. A short documentary that MotoGP published on its website, titled “Marc Márquez: All in Red,” shows the inner workings of Ducati during the Grands Prix.

The video begins with the first GP of the season in Thailand, where Marc Marquez took victory after positioning himself strategically in second place behind his brother, passing him in the final laps, while Bagnaia was relegated to third. In parc fermé, Pecco himself commented to his mechanics on Marc’s strategy: "He toyed with us for the whole race." His post-race thoughts were blunt. "It’s certain that Marc is a different rider from me or from the rivals I’ve had in the past. He’s very energetic and, when he celebrates, he puts on quite a show."

Despite being direct rivals, there is cooperation and diplomacy between the two factory Ducati riders. And that’s despite Bagnaia’s patience being tested to the limit in the last MotoGP season. "I try everything, in different ways, trying to adapt to what the team told me to do, but the results are always the same," he said during the 2025 World Championship.

The presence of Marc Marquez on the other side of the garage, almost always winning, further complicated an already difficult situation. "It’s not easy. If your teammate wins and you get poor results, it’s hard to believe. I never doubted Ducati, because I believe my career can begin and end with Ducati," Pecco Bagnaia admitted in the documentary. However, results shape destiny, and this year the VR46 Academy rider cannot repeat a disappointing championship like last season’s.