Marco Bezzecchi
Pol Espargaro has revealed why he believes Ducati struggled in the opening round of the 2026 season.
In the opening round of the 2026 MotoGP season, Ducati did not live up to the expectations that they have set for themselves over recent years.
Ducati have won the MotoGP title for the last four years, with Francesco Bagnaia in 2022 and 2023, Jorge Martin in 2024, and Marc Marquez in 2025.
However, at the Thailand Grand Prix, Ducati did not feature on the Grand Prix podium or inside the top five at the end of the opening Grand Prix of the season.
The top rider for Ducati at the Chang International Circuit was Fabio di Giannantonio, who finished in sixth place for the VR46 Racing Team on the factory Ducati GP26.
Has Ducati’s dominance in MotoGP finally come to an end?
Pol Espargaro believes Ducati have ‘little room for improvement’
The Red Bull KTM test rider, Pol Espargaro, discussed the difficulties that Ducati had during pre-season and the opening round of the season on Radioestadio Noche.
During his time discussing the Italian manufacturer, Espargaro revealed that he believes Ducati will continue to struggle throughout the 2026 season.
Espargaro believes that the main reasoning behind Ducati’s struggles have been because of their limited room for improvement as they had already hit their development ceiling for the current regulations.
Espargaro said, “We are already seeing them struggle a bit, not because they are not performing well, but because they have very little room for improvement, whereas other factories have more.”
He added, “What we see in this first race won’t be that different from what we’ll see halfway through the year.”
A changing of the guard or just a blip to start the season? 🤔
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Aprilia appear to be one step ahead of Ducati in 2026
The first Grand Prix of the season saw Aprilia claim victory at the Thailand Grand Prix with Marco Bezzecchi dominating the race from the start until the chequered flag.
Ducati now fear that they are no longer ‘one step ahead’ after the opening race of the season, when Ducati had nothing to challenge Aprilia with.
Francesco Bagnaia appeared to have made a step during the pre-season tests in Sepang and Buriram, but after the opening race of the season Bagnaia admitted Ducati were no longer ‘the fastest’.
Former MotoGP rider Marco Melandri also weighed in on the situation at Ducati after the opening race, the Italian believes that Marc Marquez is no longer ‘the fastest’ rider in MotoGP.
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