Francesco Bagnaia: “The DNA of a bike is difficult to change”

For the second time in a week, Francesco Bagnaia saw a dominant win streak at one of his favourite MotoGP venues come to an end.

After the Italian’s three-year reign fizzled out with fourth place at his home Mugello round, Bagnaia again surged into the early race lead at Assen - a track where he took his first grand prix win in Moto3, has won at in MotoGP since 2022 and even has tattooed on his arm.

But just as in Italy, once front grip began to drop, Bagnaia couldn’t contain title-leading team-mate Marc Marquez.

Ducati's double world champion was again shuffled to fourth, this time by Marco Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta - but this time retaliated to claim the final podium position, 2.666s behind Marquez.

“I feel that for the first time this season, my pace was one of the strongest throughout the weekend. But then in the race I finished in the same place as always!” said Bagnaia.

“I'm struggling more or less in the same way. I can fight and attack in the first laps, but then I feel like a little drop [in front grip] that costs me a bit in the middle of the race, and then I'm able to be fast again.

“But in any case, Marc is doing a fantastic job with this [GP25] bike. I'm struggling more to find my balance on this bike, knowing exactly how last year’s bike was...”

Indeed, Bagnaia was 9.524s slower over the 26 laps than he had been in last year’s Assen MotoGP on the much-missed GP24, despite similar track and air temperatures.

“We just need to take the positives,” he continued. “For the second week in a row I was fast enough to fight and attack in the first laps. I'm quite confident that we are not that far and we are getting closer.”

“I’m struggling in braking-entry”

Asked about the final piece in the puzzle, Bagnaia pinpointed the same GP25 stability issues that have dogged his campaign so far.

“I'm struggling in braking-entry with this bike, and this track is only braking-entry, because the corners are really fast,” he explained.

“I cannot stop the bike when and where I want. I go a bit wide, then I’m not in the perfect place to accelerate.

“It's true that we are improving session by session. But after 10 races [it’s] always there. So we need to do another step during the races.”

“The DNA of a bike is difficult to change”

While Bagnaia has been stronger since Aragon, the Italian emphasised he’s only back to where he had been in the early rounds.

“From Aragon until now, it's true that we've got back to the performance I was having in the first races. I just lost a lot of confidence in Le Mans and Silverstone, not understanding what was happening,” he said.

“This weekend was the best one of the season. I was able to push hard. I was having a really great pace with used tyres, so the confidence is getting better and better.

“But it's true that the DNA of a bike is difficult to change. 

"I'm trying to change my own approach and not change that much the bike, because you can just make mistakes doing that.

“So it's much easier to get used to what you're riding and try to adapt.

“It’s not easy for me because I need much more stability when I release the brake, and with this bike it’s more difficult. 

"But we are getting better and better so I hope that in the next 2-3 races I will finally feel OK.”

Despite losing further championship ground to race winner Marc Marquez, a crash for Alex Marquez means Bagnaia closes to within 58 points of the Gresini rider.