Marco Bezzecchi
Alex Marquez claims he is “just trying to survive” in 2026 due to his lack of feeling on the Ducati GP26, which shows the issues that Francesco Bagnaia battled during 2025.
Ducati have supplied Gresini with a works-spec Desmosedici GP26 for Marquez in the 2026 MotoGP season as a reward for him finishing second in the 2025 standings. But the 29-year-old has struggled to adapt to the bike, and is only eighth in the standings after three rounds.
The GP26 has been a rather tricky beast for every Ducati rider using the machine to tame so far, with Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 in fourth place in the standings leading that pack. Di Giannantonio has 50 points to Marc Marquez on 45, Alex Marquez on 28 and Bagnaia on 25.
Gresini ace Marquez has also faced the additional challenge of jumping straight from a GP24 onto the GP26, while his fellow riders using the GP26 this year competed with the GP25 that Bagnaia detested last term. Bagnaia only came fifth in the 2025 standings due to his issues.
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Alex Marquez is ‘just trying to survive’ due to his lack of feeling on the Ducati GP26
Ducati’s 2025 ride-height device limited Bagnaia on the GP25, as he never managed to feel comfortable pushing the front-end. In contrast, the GP24’s confidence-inducing braking stability also helped Marquez to secure his first MotoGP Grand Prix wins in the 2025 season.
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Sixth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix is the best that Marquez has managed so far in 2026, though. The Spaniard believes he is missing nearly “20%” of his potential due to his lack of feeling so far this year on the GP26, which he does not think suits his “natural” riding style.
“I’m still missing maybe 20%,” Marquez said, via Motorsport.com. “I am still quite far. Still, I’m not feeling really, really good with the bike. It’s true that the characteristics of this bike affect my natural riding style quite a lot.
“I’m just trying to survive because the feeling is still not really, really great. So, just trying to achieve some points, and not lose your head or do something strange.”
Alex Marquez’s survival claim shows Francesco Bagnaia was right to blame Ducati’s bike in 2025
Marquez admitting that he is struggling in 2026 due to the Ducati GP26 not suiting his riding style suggests that Bagnaia was right all along about his difficulties during the 2025 season being because the GP25 did not suit his riding style, which proved very costly under braking.
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The changes that Ducati made with the Desmosedici from the GP24 to the GP25 left two-time MotoGP champion Bagnaia on the back foot. Bagnaia conceded that he was “screwed” under braking on the GP25, as the bike did not act how he hoped when fighting in the pack.
Slipstream from other bikes caused Bagnaia further issues, on top of his difficulties to make the bike stop on entry and when leaning. Now, while Marquez is learning the same GP26 as Bagnaia has in 2026 after moving from the GP24, he is being held back by Ducati’s new bike.
Bagnaia admitted that he did not feel “very good” at the end of 2025, as he realised that he could have done more to adapt to the Ducati GP25. It remains to be seen how long it takes Marquez and Bagnaia to get to grips with the GP26, with both riders yet to show their best.
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