Marco Bezzecchi
VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio believes Ducati riders are “greatly” limited by the GP26 precisely where the Aprilia RS-GP has proven to be the superior bike thus far in 2026.
Aprilia finished the 2025 season with what many believed was the best bike on the grid. But the RS-GP’s superiority over the Desmosedici GP25 at the time was tinged by Marc Marquez having to miss the final four rounds of his dominant title-winning campaign due to an injury.
Michelin supplying its harder heat-treated rear tyre carcass at the first two races of the 2026 season also saw some, including Ducati chiefs Luigi Dall’Igna and Davide Tardozzi, think that the Aprilia RS-GP was only better than the GP26 owing to how the bike acted with the tyres.
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Fabio Di Giannantonio says the GP26 ‘greatly limits’ all of the Ducati riders in the corners
Ducati privately thought Michelin’s normal tyres would reduce Aprilia’s advantage, but it has not proven to be the case. The RS-GP has regularly proven to be the superior bike, and it has allowed Aprilia duo Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin to top the 2026 riders’ championship.
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VR46 star Di Giannantonio is the highest-scoring Ducati rider so far in 2026, but he sits third in the standings with a 44-point deficit to Bezzecchi after the first five rounds. Alex Marquez of Gresini is also the sole Ducati rider to get a Grand Prix win, yet he is 73 points adrift in P8.
Now, after seeing Aprilia take their first-ever podium lock-out at Le Mans, as Martin won the French Grand Prix ahead of Bezzecchi and Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura, Di Giannantonio suggests that the RS-GP’s biggest advantage over the GP26 is the way their bikes act in the corners.
“It’s always on corner entry where the Aprilias are very precise, which allows them to make better use of the exit because they take the corner much tighter and more consistently and precisely on the inside,” Di Giannantonio said, via Motorsport.com. “That means they wear the tyres less. We always get stuck on the entry phase and that greatly limits us on the exit.”
Martin rose from P8 on the grid to win the French GP last Sunday, and he was often able to turn much tighter around Le Mans’ corners than his rivals – especially those on the Ducati GP26. Di Giannantonio was the lead Ducati in the French GP in P4 but finished 2.851s shy.
Works Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia had the pace to at least challenge for the podium last Sunday. But the two-time MotoGP champion crashed out of the French GP whilst running in second behind Bezzecchi due to the same brake issue that saw him crash in the Spanish GP.
Bagnaia has only finished two of the first five Grands Prix this season, with a best finish of P9 in Thailand back in the opening round. Di Giannantonio of satellite squad VR46 has been the most consistent Ducati rider with two P3 finishes, two P4 results and a P6 finish this season.
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