Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia faces the biggest MotoGP challenge that he ever has as Marc Marquez arrives to be his new teammate in 2025.
The six-time champion joins from Gresini Racing after an impressive season on a one-year-old Ducati Desmosedici GP23 bike.
Marquez racked up three victories and was the closest challenger to Bagnaia and eventual champion Jorge Martin in 2024.
Now that he is riding on state-of-the-art machinery, he will be an even bigger threat for the riders’ championship.
With Martin vacating his Pramac bike to join Aprilia, his job defending the MotoGP crown became much harder than it would’ve been against his two rivals on Ducati machinery if he had the same equipment.
Bagnaia has already called Marquez’s Ducati arrival very beautiful, but their battle on track is bound to involve some heart-stopping moments for their team this year.
Francesco Bagnaia ‘trusts’ Marc Marquez’s Ducati arrival not to take away from him
Enea Bastianini has warned Ducati of complications between Marquez and Bagnaia as they are inevitably going to clash on track at some stage.
It will be up to the team to manage their relationship and ensure that Marquez and Bagnaia’s simmering secret rivalry doesn’t boil over.
Davide Tardozzi has shared Bagnaia’s true thoughts on his Spanish rival becoming his teammate from the start of 2025.
“Pecco is a two-time MotoGP world champion and sees Marc’s signing as a reinforcement for the team and the prospect of progressing and becoming even better,” he told Motosan.
“There is no ambiguity. Pecco knows that we have full confidence in him. We are not looking for the perfect rider.
“Pecco knows his place at Ducati, he has a solid group around him, he has the credibility of a two-time MotoGP World Champion, he trusts us because he knows that we are doing everything possible for him and that Marc’s arrival will not take anything away from him.”
Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez haven’t always been best friends in MotoGP
MotoGP wouldn’t be anywhere near as exciting as it is if rivalries didn’t exist and the odd incident didn’t happen on track.
Marquez and Bagnaia had a heated exchange in 2024 after their Portuguese Grand Prix crash, while battling for fifth place.
They won’t be able to repeat those antics now that they’re at the same team, but the key difference is that they’re on a development of a bike which won 90% of the 40 races on offer last year.
Not only are they expected to be dominant, but the upcoming Sepang test should give an indication of whether anyone will be able to get close to them.
Marquez defended Bagnaia’s costly mistakes in 2024 as he missed out on the title by 10 points – something that he won’t want to repeat this year as he chases a third triumph in four seasons.
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