Francesco Bagnaia now likely to see Ducati block his crew chief from joining him at Aprilia in 2027

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Ducati are now expected to block Cristian Gabarrini from following Francesco Bagnaia to Aprilia when the two-time champion joins their rivals for the 2027 MotoGP season.

The Borgo Panigale crew are widely thought to have already called time on the 29-year-old’s days riding for the team, ahead of his contract expiring at the close of 2026. Bagnaia lost the faith of the Ducati hierarchy with his dire 2025 season, and he has had a tough start to 2026.

It emerged as early as December 2025 that Ducati have decided to replace Bagnaia after the Italian fell to fifth in last term’s riders’ standings. It also emerged in early 2026 that KTM star Pedro Acosta will replace Bagnaia at Ducati from 2027 after agreeing to a two-year contract.

Bagnaia quickly explored the market for his potential next home, and it initially seemed that he had settled on joining Yamaha for the start of the 2027 MotoGP regulations. But Bagnaia backed out of joining Yamaha in favour of Aprilia, for whom he will partner Marco Bezzecchi.

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Ducati are now set to block Cristian Gabarrini from joining Francesco Bagnaia at Aprilia

It was recently claimed that Bagnaia wants to take Gabarrini with him to Aprilia in 2027, too, and Ducati were not said to be against them remaining united. Gabarrini has already left the Bologna Bullets once before, after he followed Casey Stoner to Honda, but returned in 2017.

READ MORE: The best moments of Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP career

Yet Motosprint now claims that Bagnaia will ‘most likely’ join Aprilia without his Ducati crew chief Gabarrini. Ducati look set to block the Italian engineer from moving to Noale when the Turin-born racer makes the switch on an initial two-year contract, with an option until 2030.

Gabarrini has worked by Bagnaia’s side since before the 31-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner even first set foot in the factory Ducati garage in 2021, having joined forces when the Italian debuted for Pramac in 2019. Gabarrini worked with Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati in 2017 and ‘18.

It remains to be seen how Bagnaia responds to Ducati’s expected decision to block Gabarrini from following him to Aprilia when the 27-time MotoGP polesitter moves next year. Ducati’s stance threatens to place another hurdle in Bagnaia’s path when he adapts to his new team.

Bagnaia no doubt wanted Gabarrini to follow him to Aprilia as his crew chief, given that the engineer knows how the 29-year-old works in the garage and what he wants out of his bike after eight seasons together. Now, he faces having to build a rapport with a new crew chief.