Pecco Bagnaia slower than Nicolo Bulega but “I don’t care, he was working well”

Francesco Bagnaia says he doesn’t “care what people say” after he was beaten by Nicolo Bulega in the headline times at the Valencia MotoGP test.

Bagnaia and Bulega have shared the Ducati Lenovo Team box since the penultimate round of the 2025 MotoGP season in Portimao, as Bulega, following the conclusion of the WorldSBK season, was made available to replace the injured Marc Marquez who won’t be back on a Desmosedici until next February in Sepang.

Bagnaia ended his Valencia test pleased with the work he managed to complete and reported that he had been able to build some feeling with the front end of the bike, something that had been missing all season in 2025.

But the Italian also suffered a crash when he pushed for a time attack, and ended up two places behind Bulega in 10th, Bagnaia ending the test on a 1:29.731 compared to Bulega’s 1:29.661.

Bagnaia, though, was complimentary about his temporary teammate’s performance.

“I don’t care what people say,” Francesco Bagnaia said when it was put to him that people might view his test negatively because he was slower than Bulega.

“Honestly, I think Nicolo [Bulega] did a very good day, was working well. 

“The lap time he did in this run was very good. 

“But, honestly, I was focused on myself and knowing that maybe the time attack could help. [...] I didn’t get the chance because I crashed.”

Bulega: “I did some laps with no stress”

For Bulega, the Valencia test was a first chance to ride the Desmosedici without pressure, since his first day on the bike was limited to 30 laps on a damp track in Jerez, and since then he has been riding on race weekends.

It was thanks to this that he was able to improve his performance at the end of the day, even with the lack of running in the morning due to the damp track surface after overnight rain.

“Honestly, in the test it’s better for me now because I needed some laps with no pressure and with time to improve,” Nicolo Bulega said.

“It was very important for me today because [...] it’s difficult to improve in a race weekend because you don’t have a lot of time, you feel a lot of pressure, you have to be fast always – in any condition. 

“So, for me, today was a very great test because we made a programme; unfortunately [it] didn’t help this morning for the weather, but in the afternoon I did some laps with no stress, talk with my team, make some improvement, and then at the end of the day I was much faster, much more confident with the bike, and also the lap time was quite good.

“I did a mistake in my fastest lap, could be even two-tenths better. But, anyway, I’m happy for the test because now I start to feel a bit more the MotoGP.”

For the Italian it was important to make a step forward in the test to prove that he could progress on the MotoGP bike after two weekends where it was difficult to find improvements.

“The dream of every rider is going to MotoGP, also mine,” he said.

“So, I will work a lot for this. I think today [Tuesday] I go home a bit with a bigger smile because, okay, during the race weekend it’s always difficult because you don’t have time; but today, doing the things like everybody, with more calm, we showed that we can improve a lot so I’m happy for this.”