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The majority of Mugello\u2019s biggest crowd since the heyday of Bagnaia\u2019s mentor Valentino Rossi \u2013 156,000 of them over three days, 81,000-plus on race day alone \u2013 seemed to be packed onto the undulating circuit\u2019s front straight beneath the podium, and almost to a man and woman, were shouting his name. <\/p>\n
For the third year in a row<\/a>, Bagnaia had won his home Grand Prix at one of the sport\u2019s signature circuits. Across 69 laps over those three years, he\u2019d led 61 of them. \u201cTo witness the sea of people below the podium was crazy,\u201d he grinned later, shaking his head. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n WALKING WOUNDED<\/a> Battered duo set for extended absences, Ducati\u2019s fall from dominance<\/p>\n END OF THE ROAD?<\/a> Why new Yamaha signing has Aussie\u2019s career hanging by a thread<\/p>\n Now? <\/p>\n As MotoGP prepares to set up in the Tuscan hills for round seven of the 2026 season this weekend, the heads being shaken are those of the sport\u2019s fans, wondering what on earth has happened to a rider who used to be so metronomically fast, unerring, formidable.<\/p>\n Bagnaia has become a high-profile afterthought \u2013 for Ducati, for the world championship, and perhaps even for a percentage of the Mugello masses, with another Italian on an Italian bike \u2013 Marco Bezzecchi on an Aprilia \u2013 leading this year\u2019s world championship. <\/p>\n You have scan a long way down the title standings \u2013 further than ever since Bagnaia joined the factory Ducati team for the 2021 season \u2013 to find Bagnaia\u2019s name in eighth place this season. Of Ducati\u2019s six riders, two \u2013 Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez \u2013 have won races and are ahead of him. Teammate Marc Marquez, compromised after late-season surgery last year and having already missed one round this year following right foot and right shoulder surgery \u2013 is barely behind him. <\/p>\n In the past 11 Grands Prix dating back to last year, Bagnaia has scored points \u2013 points for merely finishing in the top 15, not wins \u2013 in three of them. <\/p>\n What\u2019s happened to the rider who snapped a 15-year Ducati title drought in 2022, has won more Grands Prix than any rider in Ducati\u2019s history for a manufacturer who has employed such luminaries as Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, and is the only rider on the current grid besides Marquez with multiple premier-class titles? <\/p>\n And is the 29-year-old\u2019s predicament a predictable outcome of his long divorce with his only MotoGP love, with Bagnaia set to shift to Aprilia as part of MotoGP\u2019s rider market musical chairs that coincides with the commencement of the 850cc regulatory era from next year? <\/p>\n Crowds not seen since Rossi\u2019s heyday packed the Mugello hillsides to see Bagnaia secure an Italian Grand Prix hat-trick in 2024. (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n \u2018MY WEAK POINT\u2019: THE STATS BEHIND BAGNAIA\u2019S SLIDE<\/p>\n Seeing Bagnaia\u2019s name \u2013 eventually \u2013 inside the top three of the most recent Grand Prix in Barcelona a fortnight ago was jarring for two reasons. <\/p>\n One, because it came hours after the race had finished when Honda\u2019s Joan Mir, who crossed the line in second place, was demoted to 13th in the classification after being pinged with a 16-second post-race tyre pressure penalty, Bagnaia moving up from fourth to the rostrum.<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Renita, Michael and Matt look back at Kimi Antonelli\u2019s fourth F1 win in succession in Canada, review Broc Feeney\u2019s imposing Supercars performance in Tasmania, and preview this weekend\u2019s MotoGP action at Mugello. Listen to Pit Talk now<\/a><\/p>\n And two? Because it ended the longest run without a podium since Bagnaia became a factory Ducati rider \u2013 and, as a result, a title contender \u2013 in 2021. It wasn\u2019t the most satisfying way to snap a skid, but it wasn\u2019t unwelcome, either. <\/p>\n Bagnaia\u2019s factory Ducati tenure can be split into two parts, his 2021-24 heyday, and whatever has happened to him since the beginning of last season. <\/p>\n From 2021-24, Bagnaia never finished worse than runner-up in the world championship, won two of them (2022, 2023), and took 29 Grand Prix wins in four years. <\/p>\n In 2021, he fought Yamaha\u2019s Fabio Quartararo for the title before a crash at Misano handed the championship to the Frenchman; a year later, Bagnaia memorably stormed from 91 points back after the German Grand Prix at the halfway stage of the year to pip Quartararo for the title in the Valencia season finale. <\/p>\n In 2023, Bagnaia led the title chase for the final 17 rounds to see off fellow Ducati rider Jorge Martin, while a year later, Martin turned the tables at the final round in Barcelona despite Bagnaia winning that weekend\u2019s sprint and Grand Prix<\/a>. <\/p>\n That second, aforementioned, part? It\u2019s instructive to look at Bagnaia\u2019s statistics after six rounds of this season compared to every season of MotoGP\u2019s sprint race era from 2023 onwards, the numbers encapsulating a sharp decline. <\/p>\n Francesco Bagnaia after six rounds, 2023-26<\/p>\n 2023: 131 points (first in championship), 3 Grand Prix wins, 3 Grand Prix podiums, 3 sprint wins, 5 sprint podiums, 3 pole positions. Final championship position: first.<\/p>\n 2024: 116 points (second), 3 Grand Prix wins, 4 Grand Prix podiums, 0 sprint wins, 0 sprint podiums, 0 pole positions. Final championship position: second.<\/p>\n 2025: 120 points (third), 1 Grand Prix win, 4 Grand Prix podiums, 0 sprint wins, 4 sprint podiums, 0 pole positions. Final championship position: fifth.<\/p>\n 2026: 63 points (eighth), 0 Grand Prix wins, 1 Grand Prix podium, 0 sprint wins, 3 sprint podiums, 1 pole position.<\/p>\n The biggest change, other than Bagnaia\u2019s results, in that timeframe began days after his memorable 2024 Mugello win. <\/p>\n In the week after that year\u2019s Italian Grand Prix, Marc Marquez \u2013 then riding for Ducati\u2019s satellite Gresini team \u2013 used his leverage and political savvy to strongarm his way into the seat then occupied by Enea Bastianini alongside Bagnaia for 2025<\/a>, pouring cold water on Ducati\u2019s plan to park him at the factory-supported Pramac Ducati team, and setting off a chain of events that led Pramac to ditch a two-decade relationship with Ducati to link with Yamaha instead. <\/p>\n Marquez hospitalised after horror crash | 01:15<\/p>\n The prospect of a Marquez\/Bagnaia alliance at the sport\u2019s dominant squad \u2013 Marquez backing himself to move into \u2018Bagnaia\u2019s team\u2019 and shine, Bagnaia\u2019s links to Rossi and the bitter feud Marquez had with \u2018The Doctor\u2019 in his Honda MotoGP days seemingly a powder keg waiting to explode \u2013 was mouthwatering. <\/p>\n \u201cIt makes the fascination even stronger that next year, they\u2019re going to be teammates,\u201d MotoGP world feed TV commentator Matt Birt told the Fox Sports\u2019 \u2018Pit Talk\u2019 podcast in mid-2024. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you had a MotoGP fantasy game, that would be the ultimate super team.\u201d<\/p>\n Bagnaia\u2019s performances relative to Marquez have made their union almost a non-story, and reveals much about each rider\u2019s modus operandi. Ahead of Marquez\u2019s return from injury at Mugello this weekend, it has been one-way traffic between the championship-winning duo. <\/p>\n Bagnaia vs Marquez as teammates, 2025-26<\/p>\n Points: Marquez 602, Bagnaia 351<\/p>\n Grand Prix wins: Marquez 11, Bagnaia 2<\/p>\n Sprint wins: Marquez 16, Bagnaia 2<\/p>\n Pole positions: Marquez 9, Bagnaia 4<\/p>\n (Marquez has missed five rounds with injury)<\/p>\n Even the two Grands Prix Bagnaia has won since he shared a garage with Marquez come with asterisks. <\/p>\n In Austin last year, Marquez was leading comfortably until he crashed<\/a>, Bagnaia inheriting victory. In round 16 in Japan, Marquez \u2013 one eye on securing his first world championship since 2019 and looking to score enough points to rule nearest rival Alex Marquez out of the equation \u2013 was content with second place behind Bagnaia<\/a> to wrap up the title with five rounds remaining. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n