– In the duel of Italian manufacturers for victory in the Italian Grand Prix of the MotoGP 2026 season in Mugello, Aprilia prevailed against Ducati. Marco Bezzecchi achieved the first home win both for Aprilia and for himself. Jorge Martin on the second factory Aprilia finished second, and Ai Ogura on one of the Aprilias of the Trackhouse team narrowly missed the podium.
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The Ducati honor was saved by Francesco Bagnaia, who won the third place in a photo finish against Ogura by 0.034 seconds. Marc Marquez on the second factory Ducati finished seventh in his comeback after missing two Grands Prix. Thus, he was behind Fabio Di Giannantonio, who took fifth place on one of the Ducatis of the VR46 team.
Of the 23 possible leading laps on Sunday, 12 went to Bezzecchi, the remaining 11 to Bagnaia. Apart from the start phase, it was the Ducati rider who set the pace in the first half of the race. In the second half, however, he could no longer keep up with Aprilia’s pace. By a hair’s breadth, Bagnaia almost lost third position in the last meters, which would have meant a triple victory for Aprilia.
Why Bagnaia dropped off after 11 leading laps
Where did Aprilia have the decisive advantages over Ducati on Sunday in Mugello? When “Pecco” Bagnaia is asked exactly that after his third place in the press conference, he answers: “Grip on the rear wheel. I think we lack grip on the rear wheel. When I look at the Aprilias, it looks like they can enter corners faster and have better cornering behavior.”
“I think it’s the grip on the rear wheel. We’re working on that,” says Bagnaia, already looking ahead to the race next weekend at the Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary: “The grip level at Balaton is high. Maybe we will have fewer difficulties there. And then it goes directly to two more tracks with good grip, namely Brno and Assen. I think we can be competitive there.”
In Mugello, the competitiveness of Bagnaia’s Ducati Desmosedici GP26 was enough to lead from the third to the 13th lap. The remaining laps, however, were led by Marco Bezzecchi. And the Italian on the Aprilia RS-GP26 hints that he could have led even more laps if it had been necessary.
Bezzecchi did not panic behind Bagnaia
“At the beginning, I had a nice duel with Jorge,” Bezzecchi recalls the first lap, in which he alternated with teammate Jorge Martin at the front of the field. “I actually wanted to stay in front because I knew my front tire would last longer if I had no one in front of me. But then ‘Pecco’ came past me like a rocket.”
The “Pecco” Bagnaia mentioned by Bezzecchi believed for a few laps that he could achieve a fourth Mugello win. “The feeling was there, yes. But then the grip on the rear wheel decreased and it was more or less like in Thailand. Suddenly, I had a spinning rear wheel on the straights,” reports the Ducati rider.
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Bezzecchi, however, was not very worried – not even when he was temporarily behind Bagnaia. “After he passed me, he was extremely fast. But I did not panic. I just tried to stay close to him, but not too close, because I did not want to risk overheating,” says the Aprilia rider.
Bezzecchi had the gap to teammate Martin under control as long as he was behind Bagnaia. “When I saw Jorge fall back, that gave me the confidence to wait. But when I then saw Jorge coming back, I said to myself: ‘Okay, now is the moment to take the lead.’ And after I passed ‘Pecco,’ I could ride my rhythm. The bike was fantastic.”
When it got difficult for Bezzecchi after all
With the Grand Prix win on home soil, Bezzecchi experienced on Sunday what Bagnaia experienced in 2022, 2023, and 2024. But for Bezzecchi, it was a special triumph not only because it was his first home win. He achieved it with the helmet design of Italy’s national hero Alex Zanardi. In addition, there were a number of guests in the pit lane on Sunday who were rooting for Bezzecchi.
Formula 1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who is good friends with Bezzecchi, was on site together with his father. But the Bezzecchi family also appeared in greater numbers than usual. Because Laura and Silvia, the two sisters of the MotoGP World Championship leader, came to Mugello and experienced their brother’s triumph live on site. Added to this were the numerous fans who naturally cheered for the Italians in Mugello.
All this did not pass Bezzecchi without a trace: “To be honest, the last two laps were really difficult. Suddenly I saw all the people in the stands and on the meadows waving at me. It was not easy to keep concentration. But when I crossed the finish line, the feeling was just incredible.”
“As far as emotions are concerned, it was similar today to a first MotoGP win,” Bezzecchi recalls the Grand Prix of Argentina 2023 in Termas de Rio Hondo. At that time, it was the first win in the premier class both for himself and for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team. On Sunday now, he won where Rossi alone triumphed seven times in the premier class.
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“Today a dream came true,” admits Bezzecchi and assesses: “From today’s perspective, I would say that today’s win was the most beautiful. The second most beautiful, but with the same emotions, was my first. And the third most beautiful was perhaps the one in Brazil this year.”
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