Marco Bezzecchi
Enea Bastianini is nearly a month into working with his new Tech3 crew chief Xavi Palacin after splitting with Alberto Giribuola.
The latter is heading to Pramac to work with exciting rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu for the 2026 season. His departure brought to an end a second spell of working with the Italian rider, and they had just started to produce some results together.
Bastianini will have been gutted as it happened just after scoring his first podium with Tech3 in Catalunya. It looked as though he had turned a new page in his relationship with KTM, but he hasn’t had much luck since, retiring once and finishing 11th at Mandalika last weekend.
Just a few weeks ago, Bastianini inspired Francesco Bagnaia, who went on to dominate his next race in Japan for the first time in 2025, one week later. Bastianini even pulled off a ‘shocking’ move against a KTM colleague, which suggested he might be back to his best.
READ MORE: Enea Bastianini just met Guenther Steiner’s pre-race Tech3 demand with Catalan Grand Prix display
Enea Bastianini told Alberto Giribuola to ‘leave right now’ or stay at Tech3 until the end of 2026
Bastianini first started working with Giribuola during his rookie season and enjoyed a positive working relationship with him until the end of the 2023 season, when they parted ways. After leaving Ducati at the end of 2024, the pair were reunited once more at Tech3.
Only this time, they only lasted nine months together before going their separate ways. It had been a difficult season until the summer break, but things had begun to improve within the KTM camp in general. They have been a lot quicker lately.
However, after informing Bastianini of his decision to join Pramac rookie Razgatlioglu in 2026, Bastianini allegedly said, “Either you stay with me until the end of 2026, or you leave right now,” according to GPOne.
He wasn’t willing to continue working when he knew that he would have to undergo another reset at the end of the year. Tech3 boss Herve Poncharal recited how the two had the ‘perfect’ relationship together.
“Enea and Alberto understood each other perfectly,” he said. “They were a well-coordinated team, which is why I understand why Enea was disappointed by the split. It was a painful situation for him.
“And we’ve seen in the last three Grands Prix that you can’t reform a perfect unit like the one those two formed with the same quality in just a few days. Furthermore, this split happened practically overnight. There was no contingency plan.”
READ MORE: Fans demand MotoGP make change to ‘awful’ Balaton Park circuit after ‘scary’ Enea Bastianini crash
How has Enea Bastianini performed overall during the 2025 MotoGP season?
It might have been a shock leaving the factory Ducati team to go and ride a satellite KTM bike, which may explain why Bastianini struggled earlier in 2025.
Only after 13 races did he finally breach the top six, with a solid fifth place in Austria. He should have had a podium one race prior at Brno, but crashed out.
Rumours mid-season suggested that he might have been looking for a way out of his current contract, not even halfway through it.
But he stuck at it, results improved, and the signs were positive until he lost his crew chief. It’s hard to replace such a vital relationship, but it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all for 2026.
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