Fabio Di Giannantonio is the success story of 2026 that precisely nobody in MotoGP saw coming.
Which, given who the 27-year-old rides for and is overshadowed by, is no surprise.
Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
When you have an all-time legend and reigning world champion Marc Marquez spearheading Ducati’s charge, when you have two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia in Ducati colours, and when you have last year’s race-winning rookie Fermin Aldeguer riding for the Italian brand alongside 2025 championship runner-up Alex Marquez, attention towards Di Giannantonio tends to be fleeting, even with his fluorescent yellow GP26 machine run by Valentino Rossi’s eponymous VR46 team standing out on any grid.
But so far in 2026, ‘Diggia’, as he’s known in the paddock, has outshone all five of his Ducati stablemates.
After three rounds, he’s Ducati’s best-performing rider, eclipsing Marc Marquez, scoring twice as many points as Bagnaia, and casting Alex Marquez back to being a mid-pack rider with a high-profile surname.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
SHOCK DEFECTION Ogura to Yamaha sets tongues wagging … and ups pressure on Miller
EXPLAINER Five questions from MotoGP’s stalled rider market, and where Aussie lands
Despite all of that, Di Giannantonio remains unsigned for 2027, the rider market for next year gridlocked by a commercial impasse between the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA), which represents MotoGP’s five brands, and promoters MSEG (MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group) about terms for the contract to run the series from 2027-31.
Other names – Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta, Bagnaia and Ai Ogura – have inked deals for advent of the 850cc era next year that are signed and sealed, just waiting for an announcement once the MSMA/MSEG talks reach a resolution.
Di Giannantonio waits. And knows his place.
“I always feel small among the greats,” he said at the most recent round in Texas, when asked where he sees himself relative to his rivals.
“Marc is a legend, one of the strongest champions in history, while I’ve won far less. For me, it’s great to be there fighting, but you have to be professional and put it all in perspective.”
Di Giannantonio was too quick for Bagnaia – and the other five Ducatis – last time out in Austin (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing)Source: Supplied
DUCATI’S SHINING LIGHT AMID STRUGGLES
Di Giannantonio hasn’t completely put it all together so far in 2026, but he’s been better than he’s ever been before, and become Ducati’s unexpected shining light against an Aprilia run of form that started as an anomaly and has quickly become an avalanche.
With Marquez sidelined after a shoulder injury following last year’s Indonesian Grand Prix in October – one round after he’d secured his seventh MotoGP title – Aprilia, and in particular, Marco Bezzecchi closed out the season in style, winning the final two rounds from pole in Portugal and Valencia to secure third place in the world championship.
PIT TALK PODCAST: The 2027 MotoGP rider market silly season is in full swing … but waits on one crucial announcement to unlock an impasse. Who is moving where, and why? Listen to Pit Talk below.
It was a run that was considered a nice end to the season for an emerging combination of rider and bike, but no more; Marquez’s absence and victories in what amounted to dead rubbers necessitated placing an asterisk on Aprilia’s late surge.
But once the calendar flipped to 2026, Aprilia went from strength to strength. In three Grands Prix this season, Bezzecchi has led every single lap to record three wins, not seeing the back of another bike for the past 121 laps, an all-time record. Aprilia’s four riders are first (Bezzecchi), second (Martin), sixth (Raul Fernandez) and seventh (Ogura) in the championship.
Marc Marquez, playing himself in slowly after surgery on his already-battered right shoulder and perhaps mindful of his injury-ravaged past, hasn’t been himself. Bagnaia – whose signature for Aprilia for next year will be one of the first contracts confirmed when the rider market floodgates open – has been so-so, at best. Alex Marquez, not armed with the Ducati GP24 that was the bike to be on last year despite being succeeded by the GP25, has fallen away.
Di Giannantonio stated decently in Thailand, and then quickly marked himself as Ducati’s main man.
Ducati riders in 2026 championship
Di Giannantonio (4th), 50 points (-31 to leader, Bezzecchi)
M. Marquez (5th), 45pts
A. Marquez (8th), 28pts
Bagnaia (9th), 25pts
Morbidelli (13th), 14pts
Aldeguer (14th), 13pts (missed opening round with injury)
In Thailand, where he qualified fourth, finished eighth in the sprint and sixth in the Grand Prix, Di Giannantonio was the best-placed Ducati in the main race after Marc Marquez suffered a late puncture.
Come round two in Brazil, Di Giannantonio took his second MotoGP pole and was edged by Marquez by two-tenths of a second to finish second in the sprint, and then – after a monster crash in Sunday morning warm-up where he bashed his left shoulder into the Goiania tarmac – won a fierce battle with the seven-time premier-class champion to finish on the podium for third in the main race.
Then came round three in Texas, where Di Giannantonio again flew the Ducati flag highest, and opted to see his glass as half-full after a weekend that could have produced more.
After his second pole position in a week – uncorking an astonishing burst of speed in qualifying to take top spot with what he later called “the most adrenaline-filled [lap] of my life” – Di Giannantonio was taken out by Marquez on the first lap of the sprint, Marquez admitting fault – “I need to have some penalty, I made a mistake and destroyed the sprint race of another rider” – and copping a long-lap penalty for the following day’s 20-lap Grand Prix.
Marquez takes out Diggia in opening lap | 00:23
In the main race, Di Giannantonio had nothing for the searing full-race pace of Aprilia duo Bezzecchi and Martin, and couldn’t hold off the dogged Acosta on a KTM that only the young Spanish star can get a tune out of. Fourth and off the podium was a disappointment, but he was once again Ducati’s best-placed finisher.
It was a result that simultaneously showed how well he’s riding, yet how much Ducati is struggling or Aprilia has improved, whatever percentage of those extremes you allocate to the duelling Italian manufacturers.
“I was gaining a lot in the first sector [of the lap] because our bike is very agile and I was able to push, so much so that I was destroying my hands,” Di Giannantonio explained.
“But when it comes to making the bike do what I want, it becomes more difficult. The others can brake later, enter the corner under braking and use the front [tyre] to turn the bike [but] we’re much closer to the limit and have to rely on the rear.
“With new tyres the bike is perfect, but as soon as the rear grip starts to fade a bit it can no longer support the front and everything becomes more complicated. The rear is excellent but we rely on it too much to do everything. In the past, we had great races precisely because of our rear control, but now the others have managed to improve their front and we’ll have to find a way to strengthen our corner entry and braking.”
With the VR46 bikes sporting a garish one-off livery in Austin, an explosion of colours drawing on graffiti and pop art that was unveiled atop a New York skyscraper ahead of the only American round on the calendar, Di Giannantonio was going to stand out regardless of what he did on track in Austin.
Missing the podium by two seconds stung, but at least he knew his feedback on what Ducati needs to do to bridge the gap was in keeping with the debriefs of his stablemates labouring below him in the race classification.
“Most of us at Ducati, most of the riders, are saying the same comments, so I think we know the way to improve,” he said.
“We are already improving the bike as we see with making pole positions and having great, fast lap times, but then we miss the same things for almost everybody in the main race. The Aprilias and the KTMs are getting better and better.
“It was not the result that we wanted – showing a great livery, you always want to make it on the podium – but [fourth] was the maximum, honestly. I gave my best and we come with a fourth place, so it’s alright.”
Di Giannantonio’s battle with Marquez in Brazil – which he won – was one of the standout duels of 2026 so far. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)Source: AFP
OUT OF CONTRACT, IN FORM AND FAVOUR
Despite all that early-season success, Di Giannantonio’s plans for next year remain unconfirmed in what shapes as an off-season of enormous churn ahead of the biggest regulation change to MotoGP in 15 years.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
‘DON’T FEEL WELL’ Blame shifts over ‘missing’ champ, crash magnet’s new low, F1 icon’s team set for shift
AUSSIE ANALYSIS What young gun’s rise means for Miller, and why it’s not what you think
Marc Marquez will almost certainly stay with Ducati – the only sticking point to what will likely be a two-year contract is whether the rider or factory holds the option for 2028 – while Bagnaia will join Bezzecchi at Aprilia, current Aprilia rider Martin set to join Yamaha.
Alex Marquez looks set to cash in on his career-best season in 2025 with a factory contract at KTM, replacing the Ducati-bound Acosta, while Aldeguer – whose contract is with the Ducati factory as a whole, not with a team per se – will be placed at VR46 for his third season, meaning either Di Giannantonio or teammate Franco Morbidelli will have to make way.
It’s a two-into-one maths problem that might have given Di Giannantonio cause for concern a year ago, particularly given Morbidelli’s close links to Rossi as a VR46 Academy alumni, and his long tenure in the sport.
Fast-forward to 2026, and it would defy logic if the 31-year-old Italian was retained over his younger compatriot to partner Aldeguer, given the chasm in their early-season results.
Di Giannantonio vs Morbidelli, 2026 season
Points: Di Giannantonio 50, Morbidelli 14
Head to head in qualifying: Di Giannantonio 3-0
Average grid position: Di Giannantonio 2nd, Morbidelli 15th
Head to head in sprint races: Di Giannantonio 2-0 (Di Giannantonio DNF in Austin sprint)
Average finishing position in sprints: Di Giannantonio 5th, Morbidelli 14th
Head to head in Grands Prix: Di Giannantonio 3-0
Average finishing position in Grands Prix: Di Giannantonio 4th, Morbidelli 14th
It’s a subset of statistics that should only lead to one conclusion, and surely sees Di Giannantonio retained.
But a rider who was close to being out of MotoGP altogether before his stunning win in the penultimate round of 2023 in Qatar that bought him a career lifeline has learned not to take anything for granted. Early-season discussions that ‘Diggia’ could be in line for a move to Yamaha now seem like a closed door with the Japanese manufacturer set to pry Japanese sophomore Ogura away from Aprilia, per reports emanating from Europe last weekend.
Di Giannantonio’s firm but controlled response to being skittled by Marquez in Austin as a big result loomed – “I don’t have time to be angry, a minor incident can’t ruin everything I’ve done” – said much for the new outlook for 2026 that has produced his best version of himself, one that has seen him outshine names on equal machinery that he’s accepted being eclipsed by, at least in terms of profile.
“We arrived here not 100 per cent with my condition … with the shoulder, I’ve been struggling a little bit physically,” he reflected after Texas.
“But apart from that, I’m super happy and I think we are in top form at the moment. Back-to-back poles and giving pressure to everybody in the front … we must be happy with the positive things.”