Pecco’s pace can’t be ignored
Pecco Bagnaia’s transformation from error-prone backmarker to serious title contender is already one of MotoGP’s big success stories. The Italian is unrecognisable from the rider who came into Ducati’s factory team with just three top six finishes in 30 races. Hardly a CV to suggest he’d score three podiums in five weeks to become MotoGP’s fourth different series leader in just four races.
Bagnaia was second in Jerez as Ducati picked up a 1-2 for the first time in 47 races since Brno in 2018 and he’s already amassed 19 points – more in four races this season than he collected in the whole of last season. So, what’s the secret formula to Bagnaia’s rise to prominence? Well, there isn’t one.
It’s all down to good old fashioned hard graft. He clocked thousands of miles on a Ducati Panigale in the offseason to rid himself of a weakness in generating optimum tyre temperature in cold conditions.
And he’s tailored his riding style to become Ducati’s hardest, yet smoothest, braker. His ability to load both tyres on corner entry has helped him generate unrivalled midcorner speed on the Ducati, and his technique seems to have minimised the dreaded understeer that has driven every Desmosedici grand prix rider to distraction since 2003.
Former No1 rider Andrea Dovizioso has scarcely been missed, if at all, and how ironic it would be if the man signed to replace him ends Ducati’s 14-year quest for a world title.