Francesco Bagnaia “feeling fast” for the first time in 18 months in MotoGP

2026-05-14 · Yahoo Sports

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Francesco Bagnaia says last weekend’s French Grand Prix marked the first time he had “felt fast” on a MotoGP bike since 2024, suggesting he may have had a breakthrough.

Bagnaia’s well-documented 2025 struggles carried into the start of the current season, with the Italian failing to finish higher than ninth in a Sunday race across the opening four rounds.

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Ducati’s competitive decline added to his troubles, with Bagnaia and his team-mates finding it increasingly hard to take the fight to MotoGP’s new benchmark Aprilia in 2026.

However, a positive in-season test at Jerez appeared to represent a clear step in the right direction, a trend that was carried into Le Mans last weekend. After putting his factory Ducati on pole position in qualifying, Bagnaia claimed a podium in the sprint and was running second in the grand prix until he crashed at Turn 3.

Footage of the aftermath circulated on social media, showing the two-time MotoGP champion kicking a hay bale and a cone before returning to the paddock on a scooter.

Speaking at the eve of the Catalan Grand Prix, Bagnaia admitted that the frustration stemmed from what he saw as a missed opportunity to score a big haul of points and turn around his campaign.

“Surely, I need to practice my kicks a bit because I almost crashed again,” he joked, before adding: “When, for the first time after a season-and-a-half, you are fast fast, you are fighting for a position again, you are able to overtake and you are able to feel the limit, and you crash… F**k, I was really upset, and I'm still upset.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Bagnaia largely shouldered the responsibility for his race-ending crash, even though he admitted that the same issue that led to his DNF in Jerez resurfaced in France last weekend.

Having previously been ambiguous about what exactly the problem was, the 29-year-old now clarified that it wasn’t related to a technical fault.

“We found [the issue], and it will not happen again. But it was not a technical problem, so everything is done.

“It was a matter of feeling and we understood [the problem]. It will not happen again.”

Bagnaia hopes the low-grip surface at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will help him understand if he can be competitive in a wide variety of circuits.

“After the Jerez test, we found a direction that worked very well in Le Mans. We started working more on the details and, session by session, we were improving,” he explained.

“We were also in a competitive race. Normally, this season, we're at a weak point. This track is a bit different compared to [Le Mans in terms of] the level of grip and the layout.

“I think it was always good for me, but we need to understand if we can be competitive from the start and try to use the performance we had in Le Mans. Also, because last year it was one of the worst for me. I was last or close to last in all the sessions. The year before, I won both races.

“I hope that we found a way and working well, like we did in Le Mans, could help us."

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