The doubt of the great Mick
That Aprilia was growing significantly there were no doubts, but predicting a hat-trick of victories for Marco Bezzecchi as a dominator in as many GPs would have been judged as daring to say the least on the eve of the season. The man from Rimini, however, is undeterredly continuing the streak of victories started with the double win at the end of 2025 between Portimao and Valencia, and without the two crashes in the Sprints in Thailand and the United States, Bezzecchi would have an even more conspicuous margin in the Riders’ standings.
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The start of the European season will give more indicative answers on the actual overwhelming state of form of the Aprilia RS-GPs and on the alleged crisis instead of the Ducati Desmosedicis whose main defects – compared to the Aprilias – seem to lie in aerodynamics and tire management especially in the GPs given that the obligation to use harder compounds opens a gap compared to the bikes from Noale that is easier to mask in the Sprints when the soft compound can be used.
Mick Doohan, in fact, analyzing this start of the season wonders if it was Aprilia that grew enormously or Ducati that ‘took a step back’: “It is still early to give definitive judgments on this season, one must always wait for the European season – the words of the Australian legend reached by the Spanish publication Marca – I don’t understand Ducati, why has it lost so much ground? I don’t understand if it’s Aprilia that has taken a big step forward or if it’s Ducati that has taken one back.”
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“It seems that the VR46 satellite team is getting better results than the factory Ducati bikes – added Doohan – if so, who led the development? Are they going in the right direction”?. Marc Marquez, after the injury in Indonesia faced with the certainty of having to miss the Valencia tests, had declared that he trusted Bagnaia and his brother Alex regarding development. Team manager Davide Tardozzi emphasized that he expects something from the Ducati engineers for the tests scheduled in Jerez after the race weekend, and Marc Marquez admitted that he has not been able to help the bike so far due to his physical problems.
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