Marco Bezzecchi
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi refutes Francesco Bagnaia’s suggestion that he crashed out of the 2026 French Grand Prix owing to a problem with his bike’s brakes.
Bagnaia registered yet another retirement amid his sorry streak of recent results at Le Mans last Sunday, as the two-time MotoGP champion crashed out of P2 in the French GP. The 29-year-old fell at Turn 3 on Lap 16 of 27 while he tried to hold KTM rival Pedro Acosta behind.
It marked the Italian’s third retirement already this season after just five rounds, and it was even his ninth retirement through the past 12 rounds. Bagnaia has so far only secured a P9 finish in Thailand and P10 in the United States among his five Grand Prix starts this season.
Pecco Bagnaia suffers his EIGHTH retirement in his last TEN MotoGP races 😲 What is going wrong?
Davide Tardozzi denies that Francesco Bagnaia had a brake issue when he crashed at Le Mans
Marco Melandri feels Bagnaia’s Ducati tried to warn him in France that he was about to lose the front end of his Desmosedici GP26 before he crashed in the middle of the left-hand part of the Dunlop Chicane. The crash cost Bagnaia a chance to potentially finish on the podium.
READ MORE: The best moments of Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP career
Speaking immediately after the French GP, Bagnaia hinted that he had crashed due to the same problem with the front brakes on his Ducati GP26 that forced him to retire from the Spanish Grand Prix in the previous round. Yet Tardozzi feels Bagnaia just “made a mistake”.
Tardozzi told Sky Sports Italy on Thursday at the Catalan GP: “I can’t say anything, but there was a problem – it wasn’t a technical issue. All I can say is that it wasn’t a technical issue.
“I think something must have thrown him off, which is why he, unfortunately, made a mistake. But I don’t think we can blame it on a technical issue.”
What did Francesco Bagnaia say about a brake problem causing his French GP crash?
Bagnaia tried to bite his tongue while discussing the brake problem that caused him to retire at Jerez and crash at Le Mans. The Turin native was convinced that it was a technical issue with the Ducati GP26 rather than himself, as Tardozzi now says, that had caused his issues.
Who is going to win the Catalan Grand Prix?
The 31-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner went into a little more detail when the issue forced him to retire from P9 in the Spanish GP. He had lacked the speed that the other GP26 riders still running displayed, as Alex Marquez won at Jerez and Fabio Di Giannantonio secured P3.
“A little [problem],” Bagnaia told TNT Sports after the Spanish GP. “The team are working on it to understand the situation, but something that unluckily can happen.
“I started the race a bit uncomfortable, but I was able to remain quite competitive. But lap-by-lap I was getting worse and worse, and I just needed to stop… It was just very difficult to reduce the speed.”
Bagnaia was the lead Ducati rider during the French GP when he crashed last Sunday, before VR46 star Di Giannantonio again emerged as the lead Ducati rider at the finish line in P4. He did not want to air the same issues at Le Mans, but was certain that it was the same cause.
“The crash was the result of a problem,” he said, via GPOne. “The same one I had in Jerez.”
Upon arriving in Barcelona for this weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix, however, Bagnaia joined Tardozzi in suggesting that his crash at Le Mans was, in fact, not a problem with the GP26. Bagnaia does not admit that it was a rider error, but Ducati have discovered the real cause.
“We found it, but it wasn’t a technical problem,” Bagnaia said, via AS. “Everything is fine. It was more of a feeling issue, and it won’t happen again. It wasn’t human error, either, but I won’t go into details.
“When it’s the first time after a season and a half that you’re getting fast again, fighting for position, and you crash, it’s like, ‘Damn’. I was very sad, and I still am.”
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