Marco Bezzecchi
Alex Marquez is the fourth rider on the MotoGP grid to receive a factory bike from Ducati for the upcoming season of racing, and Francesco Bagnaia has outlined why it is ‘useful’ despite the threat that the Spaniard now poses.
After cementing himself as the second-best performing rider on the grid throughout the 2025 premier class campaign, Alex Marquez was rewarded with a factory bike from Ducati for the following term.
The top step of the podium was dominated by the Marquez brothers last year, while Francesco Bagnaia struggled to find his feet atop the notoriously difficult-to-work-with GP25.
Bagnaia has gelled a lot better with the 2026-spec Ducati now, though, and the two-time premier class champion is eyeing a return to the top of the MotoGP pecking order after slipping down to fifth at the end of last year.
While the Gresini rider has been tipped to cause some trouble for his MotoGP rivals on factory machinery this year, the Italian rider has welcomed Marquez’s input on the development side of things.
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Francesco Bagnaia explains why Alex Marquez is ‘useful’ to have on a factory Ducati bike this season
During an interview with the press on the eve of the 2026 MotoGP season-opener in Buriram, Bagnaia was asked for his thoughts on there being another factory Ducati bike on the grid this year.
The two-time world champion replied via GPOne, “It’s useful because Alex is a good developer. During the test, I didn’t look at the data much. I preferred not to be distracted by comments but to focus on myself.”
While he may not have spent much time sifting through the data of his rivals, he would definitely have been aware of the Spaniard’s impressive pace in the race simulations at Sepang.
Pedro Acosta predicted another ‘year of suffering’ for himself after seeing Marquez’s ‘scary’ lap times at the Malaysian circuit, where he emerged as the quickest out of everyone on the grid, including Bagnaia and his factory counterpart, Marc Marquez.
What’s more, Jorge Lorenzo thinks Alex will be a serious contender for the MotoGP crown because of the strong pace that he showed there.
However, it is clear that Bagnaia is encouraged by the fact that the Gresini rider will also be collecting valuable data atop the GP26 for Ducati engineers.
That means that if the Italian does revert to his disappointing form of the previous campaign in 2026, it will open up the possibility of engineers finding a fix a lot quicker for him.
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Both Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia are expected to leave the Ducati stable at the end of 2026
Despite there still being a full season worth of racing in between now and the start of the 2027 MotoGP season, the rider market is already in full swing.
In the cases of Bagnaia and Marquez, they both look like they will be on their way out from underneath Ducati’s umbrella in the new era of regulations.
Bagnaia has been suggested to have signed a four-year deal with Aprilia, in a switch that will see him partner Marco Bezzecchi at the Noale-based outfit as the local rivals for his former squad.
On the other hand, Marquez is expected to join the factory KTM team for 2027, where he will likely be pairing up with Maverick Vinales after it emerged that Acosta had beaten everyone to the seat alongside Marc at Borgo Panigale.
There have yet to be any official confirmations of any of the rider moves so far, so it will be fascinating to see if any further developments crop up over the course of the next few weeks.
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