Ducati, Nico Cereghini blunt about Marc Marquez: "How much he suffers"

Nico Cereghini in an interview with fanpage.it analyzed the complicated start to the season of Ducati and Marc Marquez, which was countered by the clear growth of Aprilia: “Growth was expected, this yes, because the end of last season had been very positive and hinted at a leap in quality. But such a clear superiority, no, it was not predictable.”

“The tires? Ducati’s problem is deeper and is related to the bike. The Ducati of 2024 was probably the best compromise ever seen: balanced, effective, “easy” for riders. The current one, on the other hand, has lost this quality. Today it is a bike that tends to go straight, that struggles to close the corner. This completely changes the way of riding.”

Marc Marquez himself is struggling: “Even when he gets back to 100 percent, he won’t be able to change this scenario. “The problem is not just the rider, it’s technical. The overall balance is different. Having said that, it is clear that he is not at his best. He had another injury, he missed part of the preparation, he is still in pain. You can clearly see it even in the saddle. Yet, despite everything, he remains the Ducati reference. That gives the measure of his level. Is Ducati following Marc too closely? It’s a real possibility. When you have such a strong rider, it’s almost inevitable. It happened with Stoner, it happened with Marquez in Honda. The problem is that you have very different riders. Following one direction can mean losing the others.”

Ducati’s dominance is therefore strongly in question: “He has lost that feeling of ‘total control,’ before the rider could take the bike where he wanted. Today he has to adapt, he almost has to fight with it to make it do what he wants. And that, in MotoGP, makes all the difference.”