{"id":709107,"date":"2026-06-01T22:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709107\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:13","slug":"paint-it-black-aprilia-thrashes-ducati-at-mugello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709107\/","title":{"rendered":"Paint it black: Aprilia thrashes Ducati at Mugello"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many fans complain that there are no more bitter rivalries in MotoGP<\/a>, that the riders are all too chummy with each other, so the racing doesn\u2019t quite have that burning edge it had when Valentino Rossi<\/a>, Jorge Lorenzo<\/a>, Marc M\u00e1rquez<\/a> and others were slugging it out for glory.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s some truth to that. But what about the manufacturers?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s probably never been a more stinging battle of the brands in MotoGP<\/a> than the current Ducati versus Aprilia<\/a> hostilities. The feud was in full effect on home asphalt last weekend at Mugello<\/a>, where Aprilia locked out the front row for the first time ever and took first and second in the race, Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> and Jorge Martin<\/a> leaving Ducati\u2019s Pecco Bagnaia trailing in their wake and strengthening their position at the top of the riders\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n

Sure, Honda<\/a> and Yamaha<\/a> battled for the MotoGP<\/a> championship for many decades, but there\u2019s never been that hostility between them that exists between Ducati and Aprilia<\/a>. There\u2019s always been a kind of Japanese honour that exists between the Japanese factories.<\/p>\n

Not so much with the Bologna and Noale factories. Ducati and Aprilia really don\u2019t like each other. And, believe me, the egos of some factory bosses are at least as big as the egos of some MotoGP<\/a> riders.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s it all about? It\u2019s like football: Man Utd v Man City, Liverpool v Everton and so on. Former Italian MotoGP greats Gilera and MV Agusta<\/a> were the same in the 1950s \u2014 MV stole Gilera\u2019s engine designer, like Ducati stole Gigi Dall\u2019Igna from Aprilia.<\/p>\n

You just know that Ducati bosses were raging when the factory Aprilia team celebrated its first Mugello<\/a> victory in pitlane with Bezzecchi\u2019s and Martin\u2019s pit boards reading \u201cCasa\u201d and \u201cNostra\u201d, Italian for \u201cOur house\u201d, a very pointed affront to Ducati, which has long considered Mugello to be its own holy of holies, with seven victories from the last Italian GPs.<\/p>\n

And you only need to take a quick look at the team\u2019s bikes in pitlane for evidence of another Aprilia diss on Ducati \u2013 its RS-GPs feature stickers on their leg wings that poke fun at Ducati.<\/p>\n

\"Aprilia\u2019s<\/p>\n

Aprilia\u2019s Munch-inspired leg-wing stickers poke fun at Ducati<\/p>\n

Leg wings were first introduced last season by Aprilia. They are aerodynamic downforce devices that create more rear grip and stability during braking. They have played their part in Aprilia\u2019s renaissance, which may just be why Ducati (according to people in the know) tried to get them banned last winter.<\/p>\n

The stickers are inspired by Edvard Munch\u2019s famous painting The Scream \u2013 a face howling in terror, with Aprilia leg wings for ears \u2013 and they are saying \u201cWho\u2019s afraid of the leg wings?\u201d. In other words, they\u2019re a dig at Ducati.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is a huge irony to Ducati trying to ban an aero device, since it was the Bologna brand that started MotoGP\u2019s aero war a decade ago. The leg wings have now been copied by Honda<\/a>, KTM<\/a> and\u2026 Ducati.<\/p>\n

Back in 1990, when \u2018King\u2019 Kenny Roberts<\/a> owned Yamaha\u2019s factory MotoGP team, he attached Honda<\/a>-baiting stickers to Wayne Rainey<\/a>\u2019s YZR500s. Of course, this was Roberts\u2019 sense of humour, not Yamaha\u2019s, who would never dream of doing such a thing.<\/p>\n

The 1990 season was MotoGP\u2019s year of the highside. A combination of spiralling two-stroke power and Michelin\u2019s latest grip-then-no-grip rear slick had way too many riders getting flicked skyward, then stretchered to Dr Costa\u2019s house of pain, MotoGP\u2019s Clinica Mobile.<\/p>\n

Honda<\/a> engineers christened the performance bug that created these highsides, the A-Zone. Then HRC bosses proposed that the four-cylinder 500s be replaced by 375cc triples for safety\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Roberts insisted that while Honda\u2019s super-fast NSR500 kept taking riders into the A-Zone, Yamaha\u2019s friendlier YZR didn\u2019t. Thus, the stickers he fixed to his bikes included a graphic of a rider getting flicked to the moon, with a cross through it and the caption, \u201cA-Zone friendly\u201d. Honda wasn\u2019t amused.<\/p>\n

\"Aprilia\u2019s<\/p>\n

Aprilia\u2019s Bezzecchi (centre) and Martin (left) soundly beat Ducati\u2019s Bagnaia on home asphalt<\/p>\n

Anyway, I digress.<\/p>\n

While Ducati engineers quietly work away at bridging the gap to the Aprilia \u2013 and who knows, they may be back on top this coming weekend in Hungary \u2013 I hear that the company\u2019s top management isn\u2019t taking Aprilia\u2019s dominance so well. Not surprising because Ducati bosses are used to destroying their MotoGP rivals, taking the last four riders titles and the last six constructors\u2019 titles. No empire lasts forever\u2026<\/p>\n

Ducati\u2019s Desmosedici has dominated MotoGP for so long because the bike is very powerful, has great point-and-squirt performance and benefits from the huge amount of performance-enhancing data generated by its five riders: Marc M\u00e1rquez, Pecco Bagnaia, Fabio Di Giannantonio<\/a>, Alex M\u00e1rquez and Fermin Aldeguer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Ducati has lost its way since it produced the sublime GP24 for the 2024 season \u2013 last year\u2019s GP25 and this year\u2019s GP26 are trickier motorcycles.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Aprilia has forged ahead with its RS-GP \u2013 so far this year, Aprilia has won five grands prix to Ducati\u2019s two. This process \u2013 from finishing last in the constructors\u2019 championship year after year to leading it in the 2026 title race \u2013 began in 2020, when engineers replaced the bike\u2019s 72-degree V4 with a 90-degree V4 and Aprilia owner Piaggio hired Massimo Rivola from Ferrari<\/a>\u2019s F1 project. In other words, a combination of brilliant engineering and project management.<\/p>\n

At Mugello on Saturday morning, the RS-GP became the fastest bike in MotoGP history, when Martin clocked 229.16mph (368.6km\/h), but the bike\u2019s strongest points are its chassis and downforce aerodynamics.<\/p>\n

Where the RS-GP really beats the Ducati is in corner entry \u2013 the RS-GP can enter corners faster and turns better. This is especially helpful at Mugello, with its high-speed corner entry and numerous esses. This also brings knock-on benefits.<\/p>\n

Bagnaia led Sunday\u2019s Mugello race, shadowed by Bezzecchi, who waited for the right moment to pounce, then disappeared out front. Meanwhile, Bagnaia ran out of rear tyre and succumbed to Martin in the final stages.<\/p>\n

\"Massimo<\/p>\n

Massimo Rivola, architect of Aprilia\u2019s current brilliance<\/p>\n

\n Aprilia\n <\/p>\n

The 2022 and 2023 MotoGP champion once again complained of excessive rear-tyre degradation. This is the knock-on benefit of the Aprilia\u2019s turning prowess \u2013 the Desmosedici doesn\u2019t turn as well as the RS-GP, which forces Ducati riders to use more rear tyre to help turn the bike, hence the higher wear rate.<\/p>\n

Mugello has been Ducati\u2019s happy hunting ground for many years. Saturday was the first time in 15 years that there wasn\u2019t a single Desmosedici on the front row and Sunday was a rare Mugello defeat.<\/p>\n

Expect the Ducati\/Aprilia feud to get even more entertaining next year.<\/p>\n

One reason Aprilia wants Bagnaia to join Bezzecchi in its factory team from 2027 is that it wants a fully red, white and green Italian team: Italian factory owned by Italian automotive giant, represented by two Italian riders. Meanwhile, Ducati is owned by German car giant VW\/Audi<\/a> and will have two Spanish riders \u2013 Marc M\u00e1rquez and Pedro Acosta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aprilia brand ambassador and four-time 250cc world champion Max Biaggi<\/a> has already goaded Ducati by saying Aprilia is the only Italian manufacturer in MotoGP. We will be hearing more of that next year.<\/p>\n

Whatever the beef between Ducati and Aprilia, their domination of MotoGP has made the championship all-Italian (never mind Aprilia\u2019s slur). So what explains the domination of Bologna and Noale in MotoGP?<\/p>\n

Eighty of the last 81 dry-weather grands prix have been won by Ducati or Aprilia, the majority, of course, by Ducati. That\u2019s a remarkable success rate of 98.8% from two of MotoGP\u2019s five manufacturers. The other three \u2013 Honda, KTM and Yamaha \u2013 have therefore won 1.2% of the last 81 races between them, which, to be exact, is Alex Rins\u2019 2023 COTA<\/a> victory. KTM won its last dry race at Barcelona<\/a> in 2021, Yamaha at Sachsenring<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Aprilia RS-GP\u2019s front end, featuring exquisite work around the headstock. Red-painted control engages front holeshot device<\/p>\n

This is a remarkable achievement by two relatively small motorcycle manufacturers who produce a little over 100,000 machines between them. So what makes Ducati and Aprilia so great, what magic stirs deep inside their Borgo Panigale and Noale race departments?<\/p>\n

In fact, to truly understand their domination, you need to understand that this isn\u2019t strictly a Ducati or Aprilia thing, it\u2019s an Italian thing. To be precise, it\u2019s an Italian university thing.<\/p>\n

MotoGP isn\u2019t so much ruled by Italian manufacturers as by graduates of Italian university motorcycle vehicle dynamics degree courses<\/a>. This is an area of learning that\u2019s the key to MotoGP performance, where the Italians are way ahead of everyone else.<\/p>\n

This is why Ducati and Aprilia currently enjoy such an advantage over their rivals, because without the latest vehicle dynamics and electronics know-how, you\u2019re going nowhere in MotoGP.<\/p>\n

Their MotoGP operations are populated by dozens and dozens of Italian university graduates, from universities all over Italy, but mostly in the north: Ancona, Bologna, Milan, Modena<\/a>, Padua, Rome, Turin, Udine and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many fans complain that there are no more bitter rivalries in MotoGP, that the riders are all too…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[344826,64,63,817,813,816,5745,85],"class_list":["post-709107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-2026-italian-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-motogp","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709107","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=709107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}