One, two, three!
If a certification, a stamp, a symbolic image was needed to define for posterity in the best possible way the dominant start of the 2026 Aprilia season in MotoGP, it arrived today in Le Mans. Victory for Jorge Martin, who returns to winning in a GP after almost two years and after all the terrible ordeal he went through, doubling the triumph of Saturday in the Sprint; second place for Marco Bezzecchi, still the World Championship leader even if now with only a single point margin over his garage mate and third place for Ai Ogura, who with the RS-GP26 of the Trackhouse team brings a Japanese rider back on the podium for the first time after 14 years. Aprilia hat-trick. The first ever in MotoGP. The handover with Ducati is complete. Until last year it was Borgo Panigale that monopolized the podiums, dominated the weekends, and left the crumbs to the rivals.
The center of MotoGP has shifted, but it is still in Italy
Now the world has turned upside down and the center of gravity of MotoGP has shifted about 160 km, landing in Veneto. This day is the sublimation of the work done over these years by Massimo Rivola and the entire Aprilia work group, who have been able to create a healthy, sustainable, and winning team, also generating a splendid collaboration with the new American arrivals of Trackhouse, who are transforming into what Pramac was for Ducati. And it is even more striking to think that this Aprilia dominance is sublimated on the track by two ‘rejects’ – forgive the use of this term – from Ducati like Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin. Both, with very different ways, characters, and timing, have been able to get the most out of this adventure. No more red, now MotoGP is in the hands of the black knights.
