Marco Bezzecchi
Massimo Rivola and Aprilia are targeting the world championship in 2026. That’s after Marco Bezzecchi won six races and finished third in the 2025 standings.
Aprilia appeared to overtake Ducati at the end of last season but this may have been coloured by a late injury to Marc Marquez and the desperate struggles of Francesco Bagnaia.
Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta leads KTM’s charge on the back of a post-summer break podium spree in 2025. Honda are also a growing threat, as evidenced by Joan Mir’s P3 finishes in Japan and Malaysia.
Finish the sentence: Aprilia will win ___ Grands Prix in 2026
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But questions surround Yamaha and satellite team Pramac as they embark on their first MotoGP season with V4 engines.
Yamaha will be last with ‘completely different bike’, Massimo Rivola hints
Yamaha are optimistic for the second half of the season but will be focused on development at first. After such a seismic change, it would be naive to expect immediate podiums.
Speaking to Crash.net, Rivola predicted that the 2026 season would be extremely tight between four manufacturers, with Yamaha behind. Logic dictates that performance will converge at the end of the ruleset.
“We don’t know how much the others will develop the bike for next season,” he explained. “But the expectation for everybody, I would say for ’26, apart from Yamaha with a completely different bike, is to be more or less in a similar position.
Will Yamaha return to winning ways with a V4 engine in 2026?
“But even if you do a small step, like a couple of tenths, maybe you gain three rows on the starting grid now! And any time you can be in, let’s say, the ‘top train’, you do a completely different race than if you start in the middle of the pack.”
If Rivola’s prediction comes true, it could have major ramifications for the future of Fabio Quartararo, who has demanded that Yamaha furnish him with a winning bike as he approaches the end of his contract.
Toprak Razgatlioglu could spend his first MotoGP season contending for the lower points positions, but this will reduce the pressure during his adaptation period.
Massimo Rivola believes ‘special’ Marco Bezzecchi can take down Marc Marquez
Rivola recognises that Marquez was absent when Bezzecchi won in Portugal and Valencia, but still believes that the Italian is ‘special’ enough to challenge.
Even if the riders’ title proves to be out of Aprilia’s reach, the combination of Bezzecchi and a fully-fit Jorge Martin could take down Ducati in the teams’ championship. Bagnaia’s form will be crucial in that regard.
“That’s a strong sign for the championship. But obviously, it was without Marc present.
“Still, I think that in Indonesia, Marco was stronger than Marc. It looks like also in Phillip Island, Marco was very special. But maybe Marc… who knows?
“We know that Marc is also special, but the target is to beat Marc in 2026.”
Quartararo (2021) is the last rider to win the championship without a Ducati. Suzuki, who no longer race in MotoGP, beat the Desmosedici bikes a year earlier.
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