Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez overcame a last-gasp change to his launch control device to win the Sprint at the Italian Grand Prix, as Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia came third.
Mugello saw Marquez score his 100th career pole position on Saturday morning, but the 32-year-old’s chances to win the Sprint at the 2025 Italian GP hit a bump before the lights went out. Yet Marquez recovered to win his eighth Sprint from a potential nine thus far this term.
Marquez only realised as the Ducati rider applied the throttle for the start of the Sprint that his launch control system was not correctly engaged. Quick thinking by the six-time MotoGP champion then saved his start, as Marquez fell to eighth but he could then instantly hit back.
Marc Marquez can push the front of Ducati’s 2025 bike in a way Francesco Bagnaia ‘can’t anymore’
Ducati saw Marquez take pole for the 2025 Italian GP with a new lap record to deny Bagnaia by just 0.059s at Mugello. But it might have surprised the Borgo Panigale team even more to see Marquez recover to third place on the first of 11 laps during the Sprint after a poor start.
A double slipstream from Bagnaia and his Gresini star brother Alex Marquez then gave Marc the chance to lead into Turn 1 on the second lap. In the end, he took until just Lap 3 of 11 to pass his brother, as Bagnaia’s problems with the lighter fuel tank for a Sprint cost him again.
Bagnaia ultimately found himself under pressure from KTM Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales to stay on the podium in P3. The 28-year-old finished the Sprint at Mugello a distant 2.561s to Marc and 1.441s to Alex, as the Marquezes improved their championship lead over Bagnaia.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Watching Marc Marquez pull away on the same GP25 as his, after Bagnaia decided against using Ducati’s new fairing at Mugello, even convinced the Turin native that he cannot push the front end of this year’s Desmosedici in the way he used to and wants, but his rival can.
Bagnaia told Sky Italia after the Mugello Sprint, via quotes by Moto.it: “I see others doing things that I think I can do, but I can’t anymore. I try to enter the corners as I think is right, but the front doesn’t want to stay where I put it. It tends to close a lot.
“It was a very difficult Sprint because at a certain point, to stay on the podium, I asked more from the bike than it was allowing. However, it was essential to at least stay on the podium, for me and for everyone.
“For tomorrow, we will try to take a step forward, but the problem remains the same, and it is difficult to manage.”
Pecco Bagnaia lacks the cornering speed and stability with which he did the Mugello double in 2024
One of Bagnaia’s biggest issues with Ducati’s 2025 bike is the longer front fork that the team designed for the GP25 compared to last season’s GP24. Marquez did not ride the GP24 with which Bagnaia fell 10 points shy of Jorge Martin for the title, as he rode on a GP23 at Gresini.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Ducati from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
But having the GP25 helped Marquez to end Bagnaia’s dominance at Mugello after winning the Sprint at the 2025 Italian GP. Bagnaia won the Mugello Sprint in 2023 and 2024, and also won the Italian GP in 2022, 2023 and 2024. But Bagnaia is not confident for the 2025 meet.
Having struggled to push the front of his GP25 throughout the Mugello Sprint this Saturday, Bagnaia now fears that he cannot find the same cornering speed and stability that took him to glory at last year’s Italian GP. It also made coming third in the 2025 Sprint hard to accept.
He continued: “Last year, if you look at my race pace in the Sprint and in the race, they were very similar. In the Sprint, apart from a few laps where I could manage, I was riding at a low ‘46, same thing in the Sunday race.
“This year, I can’t have that speed and that stability on the entry, it tends to move and close a lot. We’re trying everything, but it’s hard. A podium is always a podium and you have to honour it, but I wanted more.”
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