Francesco Bagnaia reveals why he was ‘lucky’ to walk away from Johann Zarco clash at the Valencia GP

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Francesco Bagnaia suffered his sixth retirement in his last seven MotoGP races at the Valencia Grand Prix.

This time, there was very little he could have done to avoid the fate. The Italian rider was taken out following an optimistic lunge from Johann Zarco.

It was a Valencia Grand Prix to forget for the two-time champion, whose second half of the season with Ducati has been a nightmare.

Now, Bagnaia has a day to reflect before the post-season test on Tuesday. It’s not long before he can forget about the 2025 season.

Bagnaia has told Ducati what to fix on his bike in order for him to get back to his very best form next year. He wants to be competing for victories.

Ducati may make no effort to keep Bagnaia, who could be forced to take a backseat in the MotoGP rider market until some pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place.

READ MORE: Pol Espargaro alarmed after seeing how Francesco Bagnaia reacted at the Valencia Grand Prix

Francesco Bagnaia concedes he was ‘lucky’ to avoid injury following Johann Zarco clash

Honda and Yamaha are interested in Bagnaia and could offer him an outlet from Ducati if he decides that he needs a fresh start.

The relationship between himself and his team will have faced some degree of strain this year, and it may be best for everyone, particularly if he struggles in 2026, to go their separate ways.

Bagnaia’s team have concerns over Ducati engineers and whether or not they truly understand what is going on with him. It’s a peculiar situation.

On Sunday’s race in Valencia, he had nowhere to go when he was sent flying through the gravel by LCR’s Zarco. He revealed after the race how he was ‘lucky’ to avoid an injury.

“My race was consistent with the end of the season I had,” he said, according to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com. “Unfortunately, there are some things you can’t control, you can’t do otherwise. For me, it was a racing incident.

“I think they penalised him in the right way, and that was the end of it. It could have been even worse, because the rim was scraping my boot. All I needed was for my foot to end up inside it, and that would have been the best, but in the end, I was lucky.”

READ MORE: Mat Oxley feels Ducati are set to give Francesco Bagnaia a ‘get out of jail’ card with 2026 decision

Ducati have achieved a new shocking low since Marc Marquez’s season-ending injury

Since Marc Marquez went down injured at the Indonesian Grand Prix over a month ago, Ducati have been on a terrible run.

In fact, the factory team have scored two points in the four races since then. Bagnaia would’ve had a result in Malaysia without a late technical issue.

Other than that, there have been a lot of mistakes, and a strong realisation of the size of the accomplishments of one of their riders.

With others still struggling with the GP25, time is running out for the team to make adjustments if they want to be competitive again next year. They can’t afford to let Aprilia get any closer to them.