Pecco Bagnaia shattered, endless crisis with the Ducati GP26: "This is humiliating"

A black weekend for the Piedmontese rider; at MotorLand nothing went right for him: a lot of disappointment at the end of the GP.

There’s a red Ducati that wins and a red Ducati in crisis. On one side Marc Marquez takes a double, on the other Francesco Bagnaia experienced another negative weekend at Aragon in a 2026 MotoGP championship he can’t wait to see end. He’d like to finish his stint with the Borgo Panigale team by achieving important results, more in line with those of 2022–2024, but he’s not managing it.

At MotorLand he struggled right from Friday practice, when he failed to finish in the top 10. Then on Saturday morning in FP2 he seemed to have made progress, as shown by the fact he managed to go from Q1 to Q2 in Qualifying, but in the sprint race he did no better than eleventh and retired from the long race due to a strange crash.

Pecco crashed at Turn 9 on lap six while running seventh: "I lost control of the rear - reportsMotosan - and then the front locked. I shifted too early and, when I felt the load, it tucked."

Even at MotorLand the two-time MotoGP world champion kept having major rear grip issues: "The lack of rear grip is excessive - he explained - but in reality, I have absolutely no grip. Totally zero. I switched to a lower power mapping after five laps because the rear tire was completely spent. Without pushing, without doing anything."

The situation is truly dire for Bagnaia, who has been carrying a problem for months that doesn’t seem to have a solution. At times he suffered it less, but lately it has been especially difficult for him to ride his Desmosedici GP26. If after five laps he found himself with a rear tire already badly worn, there’s a huge problem to analyze and solve.

Enduring such a situation is really complicated, especially knowing what he managed to do at least up to 2024. The Piedmontese rider’s commitment is not lacking, yet things keep going wrong: "I give my best in every situation and, when I return to the garage, I try to be as clear as possible about the situation to find a solution, which unfortunately never comes. The point is that you push to the limit, but you end up crashing even when you’re a second slower. All this is humiliating and demoralizing; I think it’s one of the worst moments of my career, since I don’t see a way out and the situation has gotten worse in the last two races."

In 2025 Bagnaia suffered from a lack of front-end feeling with the Ducati Desmosedici GP25; in 2026 that problem has been replaced by a lack of rear grip, and he doesn’t understand how things could have worsened so much in recent races: "I gave everything I could to Ducati, and it’s hard to accept the situation. With the current bike I can’t ride naturally and that’s why I crash. Until the summer break the feelings weren’t that bad; everything worked more consistently. I was struggling, true, but the results were more promising. From Silverstone onward something changed, because I have absolutely no grip."

Unlike Marc Marquez, Bagnaia has a harder time riding over problems. This is certainly a limitation of the Italian rider, who is nevertheless really striving to adapt to the bike and try to make the most of it, without stubbornly insisting on riding as he did up to 2024. Unfortunately, what he’s doing isn’t enough and he’ll be forced to work even harder to try to get out of the dark tunnel he’s entered.

The next Grand Prix is at Misano, a place he’s very attached to and which could be the right opportunity to become competitive again. He’ll have extra motivation, but it will be crucial to take steps forward to avoid a repeat of what we saw at Silverstone and Aragon.

Pecco doesn’t want to give up; he keeps saying he intends to give his all until the last day he wears Ducati colors, but the frustration is great and perhaps he can’t wait for this 2026 MotoGP season to be over. Waiting for him will then be Aprilia, with whom he has signed a four-year contract.