Ducati has been focusing on young riders, developing them until they reach the factory team, as demonstrated by the current duo: Enea Bastianini and Francesco Bagnaia. However, for 2025, instead of promoting the young Jorge Martín, who currently competes with Prima Pramac and leads the championship, they opted for the experienced eight-time world champion Marc Márquez.
The Spaniard joined Gresini this year, and this is Ducati’s first signing of this type since Jorge Lorenzo in 2017 – and as known, things did not go as expected with the rider from Palma de Mallorca, who struggled to regularly compete at the top as anticipated.
Mattia Pasini noted this deviation from Ducati’s recent choices when speaking to Moto.it: ‘With the policy of recent years that Ducati has been pursuing, investing so much in many strong young riders like [Marco] Bezzecchi, Martín, [Franco] Morbidelli this year who went to Pramac, and Bastianini… Seeing Márquez come in all of a sudden, do four races, and then get on the factory bike, for me, conflicts somewhat with the work that has been done’.
Francesco Bagnaia will be Márquez’s teammate at Ducati, and Pasini believes the 2022 and 2023 champion has what it takes to handle the Spaniard well: ‘I think for Pecco, it will be a huge motivation, and I believe Pecco is perhaps the only one in the group of riders strong enough, but more importantly, intelligent enough, to withstand a Márquez in the garage, who is surely an intimidating figure’.