Neil Hodgson stunned by ‘weird’ Francesco Bagnaia decision during Fabio Di Giannantonio battle at the Italian Grand Prix

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Francesco Bagnaia failed to deliver on the promise of the first few laps of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello in front of his home fans.

The Ducati rider finished fourth after being overtaken late in the race by fellow countryman Fabio Di Giannantonio.

For the first few laps, he led and managed to be a real thorn in Marc Marquez’s pursuit of victory. He was standing up to his teammate for the first time all year at the Italian Grand Prix.

But, Bagnaia fell off as the race progressed and he couldn’t find a way to get across the line and secure a trophy.

Jorge Lorenzo has warned Bagnaia could stay a ‘weak rider’ unless he accepts that his bike will not change in 2025.

Despite his struggles, MotoGP fans loved Bagnaia’s sportsmanship towards Marc Marquez at his home race, after offering his teammate a handshake, despite being beaten heavily by him.

READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia will love what Marc Marquez has told his Ducati crew chief at the Italian Grand Prix

Neil Hodgson stunned by ‘weird’ Francesco Bagnaia to throw the ‘towel in’

Bagnaia planned to ‘ask’ Marquez for help after his arrival in Italy, but he didn’t appear to sustain the progress he made in Aragon.

In fact, after experiencing polar opposite starts to the season, Marquez and Bagnaia face ‘an internal war’ at Ducati over which parts should be on the GP25 bike.

Bagnaia has tried new aerodynamic fairings, sizes of brake discs, and nothing seems to work for him. He lacks pace at most circuits.

Speaking about his pace at the end of the Italian Grand Prix, TNT Sports’ Neil Hodgson was shocked by how he approached the latter part of the race.

“The weird part now is that Bagnaia has just thrown the towel in,” he said. “It’s a great move, but if you’re Bagnaia now, you’re in Italy, you have to attack.”

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

Why Francesco Bagnaia may struggle to beat Marc Marquez for the rest of the MotoGP season

Marquez ‘entered’ Bagnaia’s head after joining Ducati and hasn’t been able to beat him on more than one occasion since.

Stringing together solid pace at Aragon and Mugello consecutively over one lap is a good start to recovering his deficit, but Bagnaia still lacks front-end feeling.

It’s why it may be too late to win the title already, with 13 rounds of the MotoGP season to go, he trails Marquez by 110 points.

Despite his improvements, if he couldn’t beat him at Mugello – one of the Spaniard’s weakest tracks, he’ll do well to win anywhere.