Marco Bezzecchi
Nicolo Bulega admits that he misses his battles with Toprak Razgatlioglu after a dominant start to the 2026 World Superbikes season. Bulega has won all nine races across the first three rounds.
The Italian already leads Ducati teammate Iker Lecuona by 69 points and looks set to cruise to the world championship, as was predicted during the winter.
Last season, the title battle between Bulega and Razgatlioglu went to the wire, with the latter eventually prevailing by just 13 points. Together, they won 35 out of 36 races.
If Ducati cannot offer Nicolo Bulega a MotoGP move for 2027, should he join a rival manufacturer?
Nicolo Bulega nostalgic about Toprak Razgatlioglu rivalry as he dominates WSBK
Ducati have scored nearly double the points of second-place Bimota in the manufacturers’ standings, but Bulega points out that he still has to beat eight other riders on the class-leading Panigale V4R.
However, he does miss the more intense competition with Razgatlioglu, who moved to MotoGP with the Pramac team ahead of the 2026 season.
Bulega had a brief cameo in the series at the end of last season as a replacement for the injured Marc Marquez and joined Ducati’s test team for this year.
- READ MORE: Toprak Razgatlioglu says Nicolo Bulega would be ‘much better’ than him if he joined MotoGP right now
“I don’t care if people say I win only because I have the best bike; the important thing is to win,” he said, via Motosan. “Lecuona, Sam Lowes, and all the other Ducati riders also have the same bike as me, so the important thing for me is to win and beat them. I don’t care what other people think.
“I definitely miss Toprak, because we had many exciting battles last year. Perhaps I’m a step ahead right now, but I think someone will catch me, and the first will undoubtedly be Iker, who’s almost there because he’s so close.”
Nicolo Bulega ‘really happy’ in Superbikes if MotoGP move doesn’t materialise
While he has expressed a desire to follow Razgatlioglu to the Grand Prix paddock, Bulega may miss out on a MotoGP seat unless he’s willing to leave the Ducati stable.
The factory seats are reserved for Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio is the favourite to partner Fermin Aldeguer at VR46 and Gresini have shown little interest in taking Bulega.
Significantly, Bulega’s manager will speak to Aprilia at the Spanish GP this weekend after a vacancy arose at Trackhouse, with Ai Ogura set to join Yamaha.
However, the 26-year-old insists he would be content staying in Superbikes for at least one more year if necessary.
“There might be news next week, because my manager is going to Jerez, he’ll talk to some MotoGP teams, and then we’ll see,” he said. “Maybe I can tell you more at Balaton [the next WSBK round in early May]. After Balaton, I’ll have my first test, which will be at Mugello on 5 May.
“It’s very difficult, because there aren’t many bikes and there are so many very good riders. So I’ll also have to be lucky that some riders go where I’d like them to go. But even if I had to stay in Superbike, it wouldn’t be bad news, because I’m really happy at the moment.”
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