Ducati, Tardozzi doesn’t hold back: astonishment for Marc Marquez and "pain" for Pecco Bagnaia

Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi in an interview with MotoGP.com returned to hail Marc Marquez for the Catalan rider’s fairytale 2025. “We are very proud of what we have done, Marc has been fantastic. The first thing that struck me about him is the person, the boy, because for me he is still a boy, much more than the rider or the professional”. I think his humanity and way he leads his team, his engineer and his mechanic, is something that I honestly had never seen something like that before. And I really think that is one of his best qualities”.

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“He&#8217s been perfect at all times; even when he made mistakes, he was able to pick himself up and communicate in the right way. We are very glad we chose him last year’last year” continued Tardozzi. The other side of the coin is Pecco Bagnaia, coming off a truly disappointing World Championship, with a resounding fifth place finish in the overall standings that nicely sums up the nightmarish season of the Piedmontese rider, never at ease on the new Ducati: “It’s a shame that Pecco couldn&#8217t give his all, as we are sure he can. He had a good start to the season, then we had problems that prevented him from expressing his full potential”

“It&#8217s been a season “painful” it” it&#8221s the right words because I adore Pecco. He won two titles for us and 31 races, he deserves all our help, even if sometimes we couldn&#8217t give it to him. We know that the team has given its best, we have worked hard to try to solve the problems, but for some reason this year he hasn&#8217t found the right feeling with this bike. In any case we look ahead, we work with him to try to have a completely different 2026”. Pecco Bagnaia&#8217s contract will expire right at the end of next season, but the number 63 has always said he wants to end his career with the Borgo Panigale company.

Tardozzi also made a comment on the runner-up world champion, Alex Marquez, who despite the satellite bike has made his mark: “We bet on him, we had confidence and I think he has given us back a little more than we expected from him this year&#8217. He has confirmed that he is a top rider, and in general the Gresini team has shown from the’beginning with us that they are a fantastic team, competing every year with different riders”. More in trouble was VR46: “They worked very well but for some reason Morbidelli and Di Giannantonio did not perform as they should have during the season”.