Alvaro Bautista provides update on retirement plan amid Ducati temptation

Alvaro Bautista is again faced with the decision of when to walk away.

The former World Superbikes champion opted to delay retirement last year, and returned for 2025.

He is a respectable fourth in the WorldSBK standings after three rounds, heading to Cremona this weekend.

But his teammate Nicolo Bulega, last year’s championship runner-up and current leader, had usurped Bautista as Ducati’s top man.

The question again arises of when Bautista, aged 40, will call it quits.

“I am really enjoying this year more than last year,” he said in Cremona.

“At the end what is important for me is to keep enjoying my racing.

“Next year we have a new Ducati bike coming, and for the moment I feel like I would like to ride that bike, but still nothing to speak about.

“The atmosphere is good in the team but there is no news yet."

Alvaro Bautista on unique Cremona challenge

Bautista has experienced a rollercoaster campaign while teammate Bulega has battled Toprak Razgatlioglu.

He said: "It's been an extreme start to the season, sometimes on the podium, but also three races without points; so it's not easy to recover from these three mistakes, but we have to move forward, and the important thing is that the feeling with the bike is much better than last year.

“Here at Cremona, it is a new leaf because it is a unique track, and most of us don't have much experience here, we only started racing here last year for most of us.

“I feel like I have more of a margin from last year and that I don't have to always be on the limit like last year. In Australia, it was a mistake from me because I didn't feel the wind changing.

“At Portimao it wasn't my fault, then at Assen I felt like I could be faster than the group I was in and made the move I was trying to make wrong and made a mistake.”