Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia thinks Jorge Martin “deserves” to have won the Sprint Race at the 2026 MotoGP United States Grand Prix, after overtaking him on the final lap at COTA.
Bagnaia had looked set to take his first victory of the 2026 MotoGP season in the Sprint this Saturday right until the last of the 10 laps, when Martin snatched the victory. The Ducati star had led the Sprint at COTA from the first lap, after taking the lead out of the very first corner.
VR46 star Fabio Di Giannantonio took pole for the United States GP earlier this Saturday, but the Italian opened the door for Bagnaia to steal the lead at Turn 1 when he ran deep fighting KTM rival Pedro Acosta. No rival rider then looked likely to catch Bagnaia, right until the end.
Martin won the COTA Sprint for his first victory of any kind since joining Aprilia in 2025, after his decision to use the medium rear Michelin tyre paid off. Bagnaia had opted to fit the soft rear tyre, but the decision backfired as the Ducati rider did not have the grip to fight Martin.
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Francesco Bagnaia says Jorge Martin ‘deserves’ to have won the COTA Sprint Race
Martin faced a 1.409-second deficit to Bagnaia with just two and a half laps remaining in the Sprint at the United States GP when his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi crashed out of P2 at Turn 11. But Bagnaia’s rear tyre then started to drop off on the penultimate lap at COTA.
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Bagnaia had no answer for Martin’s late-race pace, and the Aprilia rider made his move into Turn 12. While the Ducati rider initially seemed to have the move covered under braking, he left the door open for Martin to let off the brake and run them both wide to steal the place.
While Martin rubbed against Bagnaia, forcing the rider he denied to win the 2024 title with Pramac to pick up his Ducati GP26, the 2022 and 2023 champion was happy for his former foe to win the COTA Sprint, given his year from hell with injuries across the past 13 months.
Bagnaia told DAZN: “He deserves it. It hasn’t been easy, last year and the beginning of the season, so he deserves it. We’ve suffered quite a bit, too. And I sincerely believe that now that we’ve understood what to do with this bike, it could be a turning point.”
Martin joined Aprilia in 2025 as the newly-crowned 2024 MotoGP champion. But his time at the Italian factory started with a fractured right hand and left foot at the 2025 Sepang test, a fractured left hand while training and then a career-threatening injury on his debut in Qatar.
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Aprilia were without Martin for the first three rounds in 2025 due to his injuries, but he then suffered a hemopneumothorax and 11 broken ribs in the Qatar Grand Prix when he fell and was hit accidentally by VR46 racer Di Giannantonio – which ruled him out for seven rounds.
During his time on the sidelines, Martin tried but failed to end his contract at Aprilia to join Honda for 2026, along with fearing for his life. The injuries were not over, either, as Martin required surgery after he fractured his collarbone in the Sprint at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Martin even had to undergo further operations in the winter break to resolve ongoing issues with his left hand and collarbone. But Martin has now risen from the ashes and he leads the riders’ standings following his victory in the COTA Sprint Race ahead of Bagnaia on Saturday.
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