{"id":695539,"date":"2026-05-26T11:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695539\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:15:10","slug":"where-one-ducati-star-is-missing-to-be-a-regular-motogp-podium-contender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695539\/","title":{"rendered":"Where one Ducati star is missing to be a regular MotoGP podium contender"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gresini MotoGP rider Fermin Aldeguer has outlined where he needs to improve to become a regular podium contender in 2026, following his first of the year in Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s top rookie endured a torrid start to the new campaign, after a broken femur in winter training forced him to miss pre-season testing and the opening round in Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>Severely lacking in mileage on the tricky GP25-spec Ducati, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1043650\/fermin-aldeguer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fermin Aldeguer<\/a> scored his first podium of the season in the shortened Catalan Grand Prix last time out.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gng_1316336_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Ducati, 2026 Catalan MotoGP\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Ducati, 2026 Catalan MotoGP<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>It marked his first since winning last year\u2019s Indonesian Grand Prix and is a considerable improvement on his previous season-best of eighth.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Asked how much the podium meant to him, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/gresini-racing-motogp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gresini<\/a> rider said: \u201cA lot, because it\u2019s not easy when you are at home and you look at the other riders doing their 100%, and you are on the sofa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I\u2019m working all days with my personal trainer, with my physio, a lot of hours inside the hyperbaric chamber. And also for myself, just continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t have the potential yet\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Aldeguer took the chequered flag in Barcelona third, but was promoted to second after a penalty for Honda\u2019s Joan Mir.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the breakthrough, Aldeguer doesn\u2019t believe he is capable of consistently challenging for the podium yet, owing to his physical limitations and lack of experience on the GP25.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for all parts,\u201d he said about where he struggles on the GP25.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst of all, with the injury, we missed the Malaysia test, Thailand test, first race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need more kilometres to arrive at 100%. But we are doing a good job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Brazil, when I started the season, I didn\u2019t feel super comfortable on this bike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI miss turning close [tight] on the turns. I miss also this final grip, where last year I was super-fast, and I made the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, today, we found some solutions, also in Le Mans, and this is more motivation to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gng_1316327_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Ducati, 2026 Catalan MotoGP\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Ducati, 2026 Catalan MotoGP<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not sure that I have the potential to stay in the top three in all of the races. I need more time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we can stay in the top six. This is a clear goal for me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, we need more time to be closer to the official bikes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, I need more confidence in myself when I go into left corners, in my physical condition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gresini MotoGP rider Fermin Aldeguer has outlined where he needs to improve to become a regular podium contender&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,12370,8455,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-695539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fermin-aldeguer","tag-gresini-racing-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695539","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=695539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}