{"id":634073,"date":"2026-04-27T12:49:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634073\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:49:17","slug":"five-things-we-learned-from-motogps-spanish-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634073\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things we learned from MotoGP\u2019s Spanish GP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The battle between\u00a0Ducati and Aprilia intensified at Jerez, as Alex Marquez<\/a> beat an in-form Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> to win the Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The weekend brought an end to\u00a0Aprilia\u2019s winning streak in MotoGP and marked Ducati\u2019s first visit to the top step of the podium since last year\u2019s Malaysian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

While it is easy to say that the first European round of the season offered the clearest indication of the competitive order, rain disruptions on Saturday meant\u00a0Jerez did not offer a complete picture. That\u2019s not to say Alex Marquez wouldn\u2019t have ended the weekend on top if it had remained dry throughout, but the weather certainly compromised\u00a0Aprilia\u2019s preparations and limited its ability to make a bigger step overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are five things we learned from\u00a0MotoGP\u2019s Spanish GP.<\/p>\n

Ducati is very much in the title fight, but lacks a clear leader
\n \"Alex <\/p>\n

Alex Marquez put Ducati back on top – but who will lead the charge for the Bologna manufacturer?<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n

While no one was writing\u00a0Ducati off after the opening flyaways, its response at Jerez was emphatic. Not only did the Bologna manufacturer\u00a0halt\u00a0Aprilia\u2019s momentum, it also proved it can dominate races again in MotoGP. Of course, Jerez isn\u2019t the quintessential European track, and there will be other venues where Aprilia could pose a stronger challenge, but the weekend underlined that the pendulum between the two Italian manufacturers will swing both ways over the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, while the four\u00a0Aprilia riders are firing on all cylinders, with Jorge Martin<\/a> emerging as both a reliable support act and a genuine contender alongside Bezzecchi, the hierarchy is less clear within Ducati. While Fabio di Giannantonio<\/a> is enjoying a rich vein of form, he has yet to show whether he can mount a title challenge. Alex Marquez would be Ducati\u2019s best bet if his elder brother cannot rediscover his form, but the Gresini rider\u2019s poor results in the opening trio of races shouldn\u2019t be ignored, even after his dominant comeback at Jerez.<\/p>\n

Marc Marquez<\/a>\u2019s struggles run deeper than expected
\n \"A <\/p>\n

A sprint win was overshadowed by a cost fall in the grand prix<\/p>\n

Photo by: Jorge Guerrero – AFP – Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Spanish GP was supposed to be the turning point for Marc Marquez\u2019s 2026 campaign. The four-week break after Austin had allowed him to return to full fitness, while it was clear from practice that\u00a0Ducati had a decisive edge over chief rival Aprilia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, Marquez wasn\u2019t able to capitalise on the situation, with an early crash ending his weekend prematurely. No one expected him to beat his younger brother in dry conditions, but the podium was the least he could have delivered in such circumstances. Instead, he made an error shortly after losing the lead and gave away 20 valuable points to Marco Bezzecchi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While such an error wasn\u2019t entirely out of character for Marquez, the broader context of his season makes it more concerning. The incident also overshadowed his brilliant victory in the sprint, where he exploited the regulations – knowingly or unknowingly – to enter the\u00a0pitlane at the right moment and switch to his wet-weather bike.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Marquez has already indicated he is not in a position to fight for the title – and that must give\u00a0Ducati a reason to worry, especially with Francesco Bagnaia<\/a> still not any closer to fighting for wins again.<\/p>\n

Aprilia can\u2019t keep leaving points on the table in sprints
\n \"Another <\/p>\n

Another sprint, another difficult Saturday for Aprilia<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was always a matter of time before Aprilia\u2019s winning streak came to an end in MotoGP. But while Ducati clearly upped its game at the Spanish Grand Prix, Aprilia again haemorrhaged
valuable points in Saturday\u2019s sprint. Sure, there were mitigating factors at play, and Bezzecchi certainly can\u2019t be blamed for his poor start this time – having seen a tear-off from Alex Marquez accidentally get stuck under his bike. But the Italian never really appeared comfortable in the first stint, and later became a victim of the conditions after switching to wet tyres.<\/p>\n

No other\u00a0Aprilia rider could step up after his retirement, with technical issues sidelining Martin and the switch to wet-weather bikes comprising the Trackhouse duo.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Aprilia\u2019s turnaround in the grand prix was again impressive, despite the lack of crucial dry-weather data from Saturday, it clearly needs to do more to improve its performance on soft tyres. The onus is also on Bezzeccchi to cut down on errors in Saturday races.<\/p>\n

Qualifying is holding back Honda
\n \"Zarco <\/p>\n

Zarco took advantage of the damp conditions in qualifying to grab the front row and set himself up for a positive grand prix<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

It was refreshing to see a Honda holding its own in a sea of\u00a0Ducatis and Aprilias on Sunday. With the two Italian marques appearing stronger than ever before in 2026, breaking inside the top 10 has become increasingly harder for Honda and KTM. Pedro Acosta<\/a> – and more recently Enea Bastianini<\/a> – has shown that it is possible to mix with the Italian bikes, but Johann Zarco<\/a> also put together a strong performance over the weekend to deliver Honda\u2019s best result of the year.<\/p>\n

The key to Zarco’s seventh-place finish was his\u00a0brilliant performance in wet conditions in qualifying, where he separated Marc Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio to book a spot on the front row. The Frenchman was always going to drop down the order in the race, but to his credit, he did hold on to fifth until his Michelin tyres simply gave up.<\/p>\n

It proved that if Honda can fix its one-lap weakness, it can emerge as a more potent threat in the final year of the 1000cc era. While Joan Mir<\/a> wasn\u2019t too encouraged by the result, insisting\u00a0Zarco would have lost even more ground if the race was longer, his argument doesn\u2019t tell the full story. Track position clearly played a role, but Honda\u2019s riders have consistently been starting too far down the grid, and it continues to compromise their results.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enea Bastianini\u2019s resurgence looks genuine
\n \"Bastianini <\/p>\n

Bastianini led the KTM charge in Jerez<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Enea Bastianini\u2019s performance in Austin last month was no fluke. The Spanish GP showed that the seven-time grand prix winner has found his mojo again, and he can even outperform Pedro Acosta when the latter is having a bad day.<\/p>\n

Bastianini had struggled for speed across the opening two rounds of the season at\u00a0Buriram and Goiania, by which time it was clear that he wouldn\u2019t remain at KTM next year. But a return to Michelin\u2019s more conventional tyres at Austin fixed the grip issues he was facing, and he was immediately knocking on the podium door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While eighth place in Jerez may not seem like a big achievement, it is important to remember that Ducati and Aprilia locked out seven places inside the top 10. So getting directly into Q2 and bagging a solid haul of points on Sunday actually constituted a rather good weekend for the Gresini-bound Italian.<\/p>\n

It was also an encouraging sign for\u00a0KTM. The Austrian marque has been struggling to find a second reference rider alongside Acosta.\u00a0While pre-season testing had indicated that both Brad Binder<\/a> and Maverick Vinales were on pace, neither has been able to match those expectations so far due to different reasons. Bastianini, who arguably appeared to be the weakest link in its line-up heading into the season, is now filling that gap in the line-up.<\/p>\n

\"Various <\/p>\n

Various MotoGP tests will take place in Jerez this week before the paddock heads to Le Mans for the next round<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The battle between\u00a0Ducati and Aprilia intensified at Jerez, as Alex Marquez beat an in-form Marco Bezzecchi to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,224629,307134,5745,806,805,803,804,254732,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-634073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-circuito-de-jerez","11":"tag-five-things-we-learned-from-motogpu2019s-spanish-gp","12":"tag-motogp","13":"tag-motor","14":"tag-motor-sports","15":"tag-motosport","16":"tag-motosports","17":"tag-spanish-gp","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}