Unnoticed reason finally spotted for Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati GP25 trouble

An intriguing theory for Pecco Bagnaia’s difficulties on the 2025 Ducati was raised on the Crash MotoGP podcast.

Bagnaia, who only lost last year’s championship at the final round, has struggled badly with front end feel on the GP25 this season.

He trails new teammate Marc Marquez, the championship leader, by 51 points. But Bagnaia has also lagged behind Gresini’s Alex Marquez, on a year-old Ducati, this year.

However, a look at two ex-Ducati riders who left the manufacturer over the winter could shed some light on Bagnaia’s struggle to adapt.

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“They have lost Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini, two other guys who could have gone from the GP24 to the GP25,” Peter McLaren said on the Crash MotoGP podcast.

“He’s the only guy who has made that step.

“Marc and Fabio di Giannantonio came from the ‘23 which was tricky to ride. So, for them, the bike is better.

“Also, Marc is Marc. It’s like basing the Ducati on what Casey Stoner was doing on it. You almost have to exclude Marc from the average or the norm of the bike.

“Maybe that’s what Pecco was getting at when he said ‘Marc can ride anything’.

“The last time a rider said that, that I can think of, was Jorge Lorenzo talking about Stoner at a Sepang test.

“There is no point drawing conclusions from what Casey did on the Ducati, or what Marc is doing now.

“There are questions for Ducati: why Pecco can’t get feeling, Diggia is having problems, the ‘24 is strong, and Davide Tardozzi’s confirmation that the ‘25 engine is different.

“We were led to believe that the choice was the original ‘25 or the ‘24, now they’ve gone with a hybrid. It can’t be changed because the engine is frozen.”

Pecco Bagnaia 'seeing the differences' in MotoGP data

Marquez took an iron grip of the championship last weekend at the French MotoGP, winning the sprint then finishing second in the grand prix.

Bagnaia didn’t take a single point home from Le Mans, crashing in both races, compounding his woes.

“It has all got a lot more complicated. Multiple things happened at Le Mans - the bike, saying ‘I’ve got to change because they can’t change the bike’,” Peter McLaren continued.

“The opening rounds weren’t easy to compare to last year: Thailand moved to the start of the year, Argentina came back, COTA is COTA, then Qatar is a night race.

“Then we’ve had Jerez and Le Mans - same time of year, same type of tyres.

“Fabio di Giannantonio also complained about front end feeling.

“He’s got concerns and problems with the front end. Some people probably thought: ‘you say the front end is a problem but you're getting points, maybe it’s okay…’

“Then came the crash in the sprint which takes it into another dimension, where ‘you have got a lack of feeling, you’re close to crashing’.

“The Sunday [clash] with Enea Bastianini was just a racing incident, when it rains it pours.

“All three guys on the GP24 have been on the podium this year, so that bike is strong.

“Presumably they are looking at data. Pecco will look at his data from last year, and the data of three fast guys on the GP24. He’s seeing the differences.”