Ducati riders have identified traction and corner entry as Aprilia’s biggest strengths following the Noale marque’s dominant showing at last weekend’s French Grand Prix.
While Alex Marquez delivered Ducati’s first grand prix victory of 2026 at Jerez, Aprilia returned to the front at Le Mans as factory rider Jorge Martin led team-mate Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura in a historic 1-2-3 finish.
With this result, Martin and Bezzecchi strengthened their positions at the top of the riders’ standings, while Aprilia moved 34 points clear of Ducati in the manufacturers’ standings.
Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia spent both races following Bezzecchi and came away particularly impressed by the traction the RS-GP enjoyed at corner exits.
“When I was behind Bezzecchi [in the sprint]. I saw how much speed they can carry out of the corners,” he said. “They accelerate really hard out of those corners.
“In my opinion, where we need to work is on the corner grip because they are very strong there.
“But thanks to following Bezzecchi [in the sprint], we figured it out. I asked about two things regarding anti-wheelie control and how to make the electronics work during acceleration.
“And today [in the grand prix], we took a step forward. So much so that I was able to exit the last corner really well.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Meanwhile, VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio reiterated that the 2026-spec Ducati still lacks the front-end feeling, forcing riders to rely excessively on the rear tyre.
“Overall, [Aprilia] have a much better front end,” said the Italian, who has been Ducati’s top-scorer this year.
“They can brake [at the] same [time] as us, but [they can] be much more precise on the entry.
“They can turn the bike already on the entry with the brakes and we struggle there.
“We always need to take care about the front; if it’s closing, if it’s skipping or if it is not precise.
“They don’t think; they just go in. We have to think a lot about the front tyre, and this also destroys our rear tyre too, because we have to recover everything with the rear tyre.”
Why Ducati remains upbeat
Le Mans marked the third time in six grands prix that Ducati failed to finish on the podium. It represents a significant decline for a manufacturer that enjoyed an unprecedented run of 88 consecutive podiums between the 2021 British GP and the end of the 2025 season.
However, despite Sunday’s results, Ducati riders emerged from Le Mans more optimistic about closing the gap to Aprilia, believing the Jerez test marked a turning point.
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Pierre-Louis Le Mouëllic
“I think Pecco was not bad today, I think Diggia was also not bad,” said Alex Marquez.
“We were able to make a step on the warm-up, so I think we’re better [than before].
“It’s true that they are still really, really strong, but I would say that after Jerez, we have more chances to fight with them – Something that until Jerez seemed like was impossible.”
Bagnaia echoed Marquez’s sentiment, saying: “This weekend I crashed twice. But it’s the weekend where we’ve come closest to Aprilia in terms of speed since the start of the year. So we need to go in with a positive attitude and keep it up.”
Di Giannantonio stressed that Ducati is “not that far” from Aprilia, expressing confidence that the reigning champions can still remain in the title fight.
“I must be confident. I think we have a great opportunity this year to fight. At least we are there, [we are] not that far,” he said.
“We are only at the fifth race. The championship requires that we are in contention at the end. We are far, but in contention, so we must believe and we must work, and if we can improve something on the bike, we can be there fighting with them.”
Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova and Vincent Lalanne-Sicaud
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