When Jorge Lorenzo saw the Aprilia 2026 bike, he knew Ducati was in trouble ‘immediately’.

Of course, the most important aspect for Aprilia will be its racing results. Fortunately, the strength of their bikes has kept Ducati from losing this season.

Which Aprilia rider will score more points in 2026?

Given how dominant Ducati has been in recent years, it may come as a surprise that Apria is suddenly able to beat the team this season.

Well, it wasn’t surprising at all George LorenzoWho knew Ducati was in for a tough season after seeing the Aprilia 2026 bike.

Read more: Apria have announced that Marco Bezecic’s 2027 deal is against the wishes of the MotoGP paddock.

Jorge Lorenzo’s first thought to look at the Aprilia bike was a concern for Ducati.

In an interview with Make a markJorge Lorenzo explained how the unpredictability of this season has made Aprilia’s development exciting.

Lorenzo praised Aprilia’s bike make-up, admitting he knew straight away that Ducati were on the back foot and would struggle unless they made big changes.

“It is becoming more and more unpredictable, and this is the beauty of sports: you can predict the favorites and what will happen with 70% or 80% accuracy. But there is always a 20-30% chance of surprises, positive and negative, just like sports in general …

“Nobody expected Aprilias to be so dominant, and that’s what happened. So the good thing about sports in general and motorcycling in particular is that there are always surprises.”

“It’s amazing. It’s very compact, very low and agile. It’s leaner, leaner, it’s like it’s stuck to the ground, it’s faster in the tightest left or right chicanes.”

“I’ve been watching this all my life, so I saw it immediately: if Ducati doesn’t do something between now and the start of the season, it’s impossible,” I said.

Read more: If Marc Marquez does something on his return to Mugello, he could make Aprilia forget the 2026 title.

Silvan Guintoli Aprilia continues to tell Ducati riders to reject the ‘favourites’ label.

Speaking on Gas out Podcast, Silvan Guintoli says Aprilia prefer to see themselves as challengers and outsiders this season rather than favourites.

“Aprilia, once they got to MotoGP, they had this building phase of putting it all together, and then they started doing it step by step. They’ve added a lot since the middle of last year, they’ve made huge steps.

Even though they have the best bike on the grid, they still see themselves as outsiders. I think they like it. Whenever Massimo Rivola and Paolo Bonora talk in the paddock, they don’t want to put that pressure on themselves or the riders.

“They want to be the outsiders. They want to be challenged. I think that’s a way to ease the pressure. I think they still go there, even though they’re leading the championship by two riders, they go into every race as a contender. It takes the pressure off a little bit.

You might be thinking, “We know we’re strong, but despite what’s happened since the start of the season, we won’t go in as favourites.” We are still not there, we still don’t want to admit that we have the best bike, we are favorites for the championship and we go to every race with this attitude. ” i like this.”

Even with the tension in the Aprilia, especially thanks George Martin is pushing Paolo Bonora.There seems to be an internal understanding that the team’s goal is very important.

Although they don’t consider themselves the favourites, Apria are clearly pushing their factory team forward. In fact Aprilia is set to issue group orders to the trackhouse. by request Martin.

And even in the top title race between the two riders, Revola has confirmed that the Apria does not support both drivers Although Martin left the group in pre-treatment and episodes.

While it’s admirable that Aprilia brings this level of inspiration to every race, there’s some concern that not accepting their label as the favorites is a sign that they’ll shrug off the pressure that comes with that distinction.