Mick Doohan has “no doubt” that Ducati star Francesco Bagnaia is still a “reliable” rider, but sees two reasons for his demise over the past two years.
Bagnaya He is confused Dohan After fighting for the title for four consecutive riders, he finished fifth in the standings in 2025 and ninth in the standings in 2026 after three rounds. Starting in 2022, he scored just 25 points in his worst start to a season.
Two-time premier class champion Bagnaya has failed to finish higher than ninth in the first three Grands Prix this season. Bagnaia only went from P13 to P9 in Thailand, crashed after finishing P11 in Brazil and qualified in P4 but finished P10 in America.
“He tried to get to the end,” Bagnaya said at COTA.After suffering from high rear tire wear after eight laps. He picked up the light that was a strong weekend Jorge Martin passed Bagnaya to win the COTA Sprint On the last lap because of the middle rear tire.
Are Ducati too dependent on Marc Marquez to develop their bikes?
Mick Doohan thinks Francesco Bagnaia is still struggling because of Marc Marquez
Five-time 500cc champion Dohan Bagnaya can’t help but wonder how he has been stripped of his dominance to win the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP titles. The Italian completed the biggest comeback in MotoGP history in 2022 and took 15 podiums in 19 races in 2023.
Read more: The best moments of Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP career
Doon thinks the reason for Bagnaia’s comeback comes from struggling to adapt to Ducati’s GP25 last year or this year’s GP26. Alternatively, arrival Mark Marquez In the year 2025 by Ducati and his dominance may have triggered Bagnaia’s downfall.
“I don’t know what happened to Bagnaya,” he said. Mark. But he has amazing talent, I have no doubt about it.
“I don’t know if it was something to do with the bike or if it happened after Marc Marquez joined the team. But there’s no denying how dominant he was in the two world championships he won.”
Marquez joined Ducati in 2025 for Bagnaia’s already low 2024 riders’ title, missing out on Martin by 10 points despite winning 11 grands prix from 20 races. Losing the 2024 title played on Bagnaya’s mind during the honeymoon In winter as well.
How will we talk about the journey of Francesco Bagnaia Appria in five years?
The Spaniard has won 11 of the 18 Grands Prix he has contested in 2025, making Marquez his team-mate. Bagnaia realized that he could do more to adapt to the Ducati GP25. But many of the problems faced in 2025 are gone in 2026.
Speaking in Brazil after struggling with Michelin’s hard rear tire carcass, Bagnaya said he did not understand why he struggled with speed in the race. Up until this term they have been riding a Ducati GP26. Just in the year The 2025 struggled with braking and cornering acceleration.
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