MotoGp, Bagnaia third without a spark: "I wasn't able to overtake. It's a problem"

Jerez de la Frontera, 27 April 2025 – Now not just the Sprint Race. Pecco bagnaia no longer overtakes, at least in Jerez de la Frontera. Third on Saturday, third on Sunday: he arrived in the same box on the starting grid. In fact, he was overtaken by Alex Marquez who then won the grand prix, while Pecco completed a long race in the tail of Fabio Quarterly without finding the motivation to attempt an overtaking. The drop in performance is starting to become a problem bagnaia as soon as he gets close to a bike in front. Not even in the long race, where his proverbial tire management has always made the difference, the former world champion has managed to attempt an approach towards second place. A race like a train with El Diablo second, Bagnaia third and Vinales fourth. They found themselves like this after Alex's escape and that's how they arrived.

Bagnaia: “Last year I didn't have this problem”

The standings are still short, thanks to two crashes by Marc Marquez (Alex in the lead with 1 point on his brother and 20 on the Italian), but Pecco bagnaia will have to find a way to compete with the two brothers, who were more incisive in overtaking today. The tests on Monday after the race on the Spanish circuit were fundamental, where Ducati should bring the latest updates to Gp 25. For bagnaia there is a big problem to solve: staying competitive when he arrives in the slipstream of an opponent: “In the first laps I was calm, there was a fight with Marquez but then I started pushing to catch Quartararo – his words – The problem is that once I got behind I didn’t have the motivation to overtake him. After that I struggled a lot. I didn’t have my strong point in turns 11 and 12 and in the end I don’t like these races because in order not to make mistakes I don’t create the conditions to get close. Last year I didn’t have these problems”. Tomorrow in Jerez the collective tests, an opportunity to make all the necessary assessments and find the necessary corrections: “We will have to analyze and understand, but in any case with Marc who arrived behind it remains a positive day to score points”. The only exciting phase for Pecco was at the start. Marquez he overtook him, bagnaia he responded and there was contact between the two. For Bagnaia it was not intentional: “I think Marc was in a wheelie phase and was unable to give direction to the bike – Pecco's response – Let's say that the intersection in turn 9 was nice and perhaps he didn't expect that type of overtaking from me”. However, it's not all bad for Pecco who is progressing compared to the beginning of the season. The hope is that the tests will return a Gp 25 closer to his needs: “I managed to progress over the weekend and I was quite fast”, Pecco's summary.

Read also - Moto GP, first victory for Alex Marquez. Marc falls. Pecco third