In the third round, Francesco Bagnaia took his first victory of the 2025 MotoGP season. It was at the GP of the Americas in Austin, where the Ducati rider had never won before.
In a press conference, the Italian admitted that Marc Márquez’s crash was what enabled his victory, given the superiority the Spaniard had been showing: ‘It’s an incredible feeling, I’m very happy, it’s the first time I win here at COTA. I know that the win happened because Marc’s crash. He was faster than everyone else, so I was just trying to match the pace in the best way I could’.
After Marc’s crash, Bagnaia had the tough task of pulling away from Álex Márquez (BK8 Gresini/Ducati), as he mentioned: ‘As soon as I saw him crashing, I was just trying to keep pushing to open a gap to Álex, because at that moment, he was still very close. It wasn’t easy; he was gaining a lot in Sector 1, he was very close in Sector 2, and I was just able to brake very hard in turn 12, and I think the Sector 3 was better for me’.
Beyond the result, the #63 took away the best feelings with the bike from this round: ‘It wasn’t easy because what happened at the start of the season. Since testing, and in the first two races, I was struggling to find my feeling in braking, and I have to say that this weekend has helped me a lot to improve and to find what I was looking for. I’m very happy about it, I’m very happy about my team because they are the ones who always control my nervousness – always trying to give me a big smile while I’m riding. Thanks to them, thanks to my team at home, like always they are super good working to try to help me. I’m just super happy’.