Francesco Bagnaia will find Alex Marquez’s comments about Ducati’s bike hard to believe amid 2025 struggles

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Francesco Bagnaia scored his 10th third-place finish of the 2025 MotoGP season, including Sprints, at the German Grand Prix, once again finishing behind the Marquez brothers.

It could be argued that his podium at Sachsenring was fortuitous, given the multitude of crashes that happened in front of him. Bagnaia worked his way up from the fourth row of the grid, but would have likely been off the podium had Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi not crashed.

The Italian was almost an alarming two seconds off the pace of Marc Marquez in qualifying as he could only manage 11th. Neil Hodgson says Pedro Acosta would have been an upgrade on Bagnaia at Ducati, which is ironic given his links to VR46.

Bagnaia told Marquez he ‘can’t’ take pressure off himself at the German Grand Prix. The 32-year-old followed his teammate’s advice as he commanded the field for his ninth win at Sachsenring on his 200th Grand Prix race.

Bagnaia was seven seconds off the leader and finished seven tenths behind Alex Marquez in second. The Gresini rider was struggling with the effects of his broken hand from Assen, as Marquez was a ‘passenger’ through left-hand corners, but still managed to beat the factory Ducati rider.

Alex Marquez says ‘no rider has had a hard time adapting to the Ducati’ – Francesco Bagnaia will disagree

Worryingly, Davide Tardozzi says Ducati ‘don’t know’ why Bagnaia struggled at the German GP. It has been no secret that the two-time MotoGP champion has struggled to adjust to the GP25, constantly complaining of no feeling on the bike.

That is why he might find Alex Marquez’s comments after the race strange. Speaking via AS, the 29-year-old stated that his brother Marc has had to adapt to the Ducati from his time at Honda and that ‘no rider’ has struggled with this adaptation.

Talking about Marc Marquez’s dominance, he said: “Yes. I knew he had to change his style a little, because he was a much more aggressive rider, but it wasn’t just his fault; the Honda also demanded it.

“On the other hand, the Ducati is a bit the other way around; the more you demand, the worse it goes. You have to accompany the Ducati and dance with it. That’s what has changed the most.

“He’s known how to adapt, and I was clear about that. No rider has had a hard time adapting to the Ducati. It’s true that he struggled last year with the 2023, but we all struggle, and this year he’s proving that with the weapons of a factory bike, he’s making a big difference.

“Nothing. He’s Marc Márquez. What more can I say?”

Bagnaia will find Marquez’s comments on the bike hard to believe, especially given how public he has been about his struggles on the GP25. Bagnaia even said ‘I need help’ to Ducati as he found little to no feeling from the front end of the machine.

It is not just the 28-year-old who can attest to this, as Di Giannantonio has also struggled since stepping onto the GP25. Diggia did not have the same feeling as Bagnaia with the new brake discs he added to the bike as he sits just three points ahead of VR46 teammate Franco Morbidelli.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number

Francesco Bagnaia is now 147 points behind Marc Marquez

With Marc Marquez’s dominance at Sachsenring, Bagnaia is now an eye-watering 147 points behind his teammate at the halfway point of the season.

The championship is out of the question for the Italian in 2025 as he will now have to salvage the best finish he can. Bagnaia is tired of finishing third, but unless things improve, the Marquez brothers will continue to have the edge over him.

Bagnaia has apologised to Ducati engineers after recognising the work they have put into finding improvements for the Italian. The team are not giving up on their star rider, with Luigi Dall’Igna saying Ducati owe Bagnaia for the success he has given them.

But it is clear that he must improve his results, as there have been shocking rumours that he could leave the factory team. Jorge Lorenzo says Alex Marquez deserves a seat at Ducati; Bagnaia will certainly come under threat if the factory outfit considers the Spaniard for the future.