Marco Bezzecchi
The Ducati stable in 2025 is vastly different to the Bologna Bullets’ ranks last year yet Marco Melandri feels Jorge Martin joining Aprilia was not their ‘really important’ loss.
Ducati have been the dominant force on the MotoGP grid for the past few seasons, with the Borgo Panigale brand or teams running their bikes sweeping a number of riders’, teams’ and manufacturers’ championships. But Ducati’s decisions have seen an array of key parts leave.
One of the headline exits from the Ducati ranks after the 2024 season was Martin leaving his satellite Desmosedici GP24 with Pramac for a factory Aprilia bike in 2025. The 26-year-old even left Pramac for Aprilia straight after Martin won the 2024 MotoGP riders’ championship.
Pramac’s defection to Yamaha is a bigger loss for Ducati than Jorge Martin
Ducati have themselves to blame for Martin giving up his Desmosedici to join Aprilia in place of the retiring Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard agreed to replace his mentee after Ducati opted to sign Marc Marquez from Gresini to replace Enea Bastianini rather than promoting Martin.
The Bologna Bullets sacking Bastianini also saw him leave Ducati’s ranks by signing for KTM to ride for Tech3 in 2025. Martin will also partner another exile at Aprilia after they snapped up Marco Bezzecchi. Yet Melandri does not think any of them were Ducati’s ‘important’ loss.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
Rather than any rider move, Melandri says Pramac becoming a second factory Yamaha team from 2025 is the worst loss for Ducati given what the Tuscan team gave as a finishing school for the Bologna Bullets’ pilots. Pramac still had two years on their contract with Ducati to go.
“The main loss is Pramac,” Melandri told Moto Sprint. “Let me explain – Pecco Bagnaia went to Pramac, Jorge Martin, too. Almost all [of] the really great riders in Ducati were trained by Pramac, so it’s a really important loss for Borgo Panigale.”
Ducati will need VR46 to replace Pramac as their MotoGP rider finishing school
Pramac tore up the remaining two years of their contract as a satellite Ducati team to sign a seven-year deal with Yamaha to be their de-facto second factory team. Yamaha did not have a satellite team in 2023 plus 2024 and have struggled to catch Ducati without the extra data.
Losing the Tuscan team to Yamaha also removes the route via Pramac that many riders took to ride for Ducati like Melandri points to. Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone all joined Ducati from Pramac, who even ran Ducati test rider Michele Pirro.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Pramac from the MotoGP team’s riders to bike
Pramac, who have signed Miller and Miguel Oliveira to ride for the team in 2025 after losing Martin to Aprilia plus Franco Morbidelli to VR46, will now work closely with Yamaha. VR46 were also key to Pramac’s decision to split as they started to intensify their ties with Ducati.
So, now that Pramac have defected to Yamaha after running the Bologna Bullets’ bikes since the 2004 MotoGP season, Ducati will need VR46 to step up and become the Borgo Panigale outfit’s new finishing school for riders. Morbidelli has joined Fabio Di Giannantonio at VR46.
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