{"id":761031,"date":"2026-06-26T06:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:59:47","slug":"francesco-bagnaia-started-considering-ducati-exit-after-2025-japanese-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761031\/","title":{"rendered":"Francesco Bagnaia started considering Ducati exit after 2025 Japanese GP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francesco Bagnaia<\/a> says he first began thinking seriously about leaving Ducati during last year\u2019s MotoGP Japanese Grand\u00a0Prix.<\/p>\n

On the eve of this weekend\u2019s MotoGP race at Assen, it was confirmed that Bagnaia will join Aprilia on a bumper four-year contract, teaming up with fellow VR46 graduate Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> in an all-Italian line-up.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

This November\u2019s Valencia GP will hence mark his final race at Ducati, closing the curtain on a glittering chapter that saw him take the\u00a0Borgo Panigale marque back to the top and become its most successful rider in history.<\/p>\n

Although the deal with Aprilia was only announced on Thursday, and understood to be agreed upon before pre-season testing, Bagnaia admitted that he was already thinking about life after Ducati in September last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s true that last year wasn’t an easy season. I struggled a lot, and something started to change after Japan,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo at that moment I just decided, \u2018OK, maybe it’s time to consider other options\u2019 and I opened my mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I always received a lot of support from Aprilia. And I think it was the correct moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had many options in front of me. But I believe in a long-term contract. And I think it was the correct moment to decide to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motegi proved to be a decisive point in the 2025 MotoGP season. It was the first weekend of the year where Bagnaia enjoyed a clear competitive advantage over the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But while he celebrated pole position and a double win at Japan, his results were significantly overshadowed by his team-mate Marc Marquez<\/a> wrapping up his seventh \u00a0premier class title.<\/p>\n

Asked to explain exactly what shifted for him at Motegi, Bagnaia declined to elaborate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a place and a time to share this kind of information, but it’s not the correct moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Letter to Ducati
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a heartfelt social media post, Bagnaia shared a letter to Ducati, the manufacturer he once expected to spend his entire career with before a difficult 2025 campaign altered his plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think after eight years, it was correct to dedicate a more important thing to say goodbye,\u201d he said to explain the reasoning behind the letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s true that we’ll finish the season with them, but I didn’t want to just end it and say that I was moving from Ducati with a post saying \u2018ciao Ducati\u2019; it’s more important than this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shared the best memories in my career right now with them, so it was correct like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the winter, Bagnaia emerged as a prime candidate for Yamaha, which was seeking another world champion to replace Honda-bound Fabio Quartararo<\/a>, before ultimately deciding to join Aprilia.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Photos from Dutch GP – Thursday<\/p>\n

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\"Marc<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Marc<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Francesco<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Pedro<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Paolo<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
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\"Marc<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
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\"Pedro<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Francesco<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Marc<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Francesco<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Carlos<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\"Pedro<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
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\"Pedro<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Paolo<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Pedro<\/p>\n


\n
\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Pedro<\/p>\n


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\n Dutch GP – Thursday, in photos
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\n <\/a><\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francesco Bagnaia says he first began thinking seriously about leaving Ducati during last year\u2019s MotoGP Japanese Grand\u00a0Prix. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,8542,60689,7607,363399,5745,806,805,803,804,85,262930],"class_list":["post-761031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ducati-team","tag-dutch-gp","tag-francesco-bagnaia","tag-francesco-bagnaia-started-considering-ducati-exit-after-2025-japanese-gp","tag-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-tt-circuit-assen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761031","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=761031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}