Francesco Bagnaia has ‘copied’ Valentino Rossi’s legendary MotoGP technique to thwart Marc Marquez

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Francesco Bagnaia has faced the sternest task of his MotoGP career so far since the arrival of Marc Marquez at Ducati.

The two-time MotoGP champion has struggled to come to terms with Ducati’s GP25 bike, and it has left him 93 points behind in the title race after just eight events.

Bagnaia has just one victory this season to Marquez’s eight across sprints and Grands Prix. Mostly, it’s down to a lack of feeling and confidence in his machinery.

Not to take anything away from the championship leader, but his teammate just hasn’t been himself so far in 2025.

Marquez and Bagnaia are fighting ‘an internal war’ over which parts they should be running on their bikes at Ducati, and it could raise tensions within the team.

After a breakthrough race at Aragon, Bagnaia stopped saying one thing at Ducati and seems to have cut his complaints about the GP25 for the time being.

READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia will be licking his lips over ‘new’ Ducati upgrades revealed by Davide Tardozzi after Aragon

Francesco Bagnaia has ‘copied’ Valentino Rossi to thwart Marc Marquez at Ducati

Bagnaia made one ‘significant’ change at Ducati and may have rediscovered his spark after swapping his brakes. He feels the front end of his bike again.

It turned a Bagnaia that was ‘sarcastic’ in Ducati’s garage into one that finished just a few seconds behind Marquez out of nowhere.

And it’s not the only thing about himself that he changed, as Alex Criville revealed to DAZN in a new instalment of their ‘DECODED’ show. He thinks Bagnaia has learned from Valentino Rossi.

“Having Valentino there as a teacher is a luxury. Pecco is learning a lot from him,” he said. “He looked up to the best, Valentino for braking, Marquez for leaning the bike… He copied what he saw and improved it.”

Picking the best parts of each rival’s style should be the best way to go, but bringing it all together effectively is a massive task and one that is easy to underestimate. Bagnaia has done it superbly.

READ MORE: Alex Marquez’s agent explains why Ducati won’t sign him even if Francesco Bagnaia leaves

Why Valentino Rossi’s special MotoGP braking technique is so legendary

Rossi competed at the premier class level for over 20 years, winning seven titles and pioneering many things.

One of them was the ‘Doctor’s Dangle’. It was a special braking technique where he would stick his leg out under braking.

Soon enough, everyone began to copy it, and it’s something that Bagnaia uses today as well. It was a pioneering move.

Cal Crutchlow has a ‘panic’ theory for Rossi’s revolutionary move and thinks that it was just a defence mechanism of the mind at high speed.

Ex-motorcycle racer James Toseland explained to TNT Sports why it’s so popular when he said, “But the biggest thing for him is because that rear wheel is never on the floor on the hard braking, so he says, ‘I know that that rear tyre is going to come down sometimes not in line. And then it’s going to hop and snap.’

“If he’s got that leg out there, it’s like a cat’s tail. As soon as he comes down and it snaps, he’s got that leg to support the bike, counteract the movement and balance. You’ve got that leverage.”