The Thursday in Assen before the Dutch Grand Prix was the first proper opportunity to hear from the main champions in a few weeks of MotoGP action.
Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez have weighed in on the bizarre weekend at Mugello in which Ducati went from apparently favoring Martin for the second spot on its team for 2025 to snubbing him in favor of Marquez (prompting Martin to quit and join Aprilia), and Maverick Viñales explains why he rejected it Aprilia's efforts to keep him, as Marco Bezicchi revealed that he left the Ducati team led by his mentor Valentino Rossi and joined Aprilia despite his hesitation in moving to Pramac Ducati last year.
And – inevitably – Aleix Espargaro's take on it all as an intimately involved spectator was also worth hearing.
Here's everything we learned about those crazy off-track machinations that have taken place since the last actual MotoGP race.
Martin is visibly angry; Marquez maintains his innocence
Heading into the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Mugello four weeks ago, it looked as if Martin would be on factory red Ducati next season and that Marquez would remain at the Gresini team – but in the space of just a few days, the eight-time world champion has been confirmed. As Bagnaia's teammate and current title leader Martin was out for Aprilia.
So how did things change so quickly? In large part, race sources believe, is because Ducati changed the deal on offer away from the straightforward contract Martin thought he had in a shootout between himself and Marquez based on the rest of the 2024 championship – an offer that was entirely unacceptable to both parties. Once they both declined, Ducati decided they could not risk losing Marquez so they chose him.
Martin's discomfort with that was clearly evident in Assen today – especially in the context of Enea Bastianini beating Ducati's factory chances in 2023 and '24. Now – when he was leading the championship – he was overlooked again.
“I arrived at Mugello with some ideas, some information that changed a lot over the weekend,” Martin explained.
“Once the race was over, I realized that the path wasn’t clear so I had to make a decision. Sometimes things in life don’t go the way you expect or want.
“It is difficult to explain from my side. I did not want to talk about my future during the weekend at Mugello. On Sunday evening I saw that it was not that clear. I also wanted to explain my future at Mugello. Something or someone arrived and changed the idea.
“It's okay. I'm frustrated because after so long of trying to go there, it always seemed like it would never arrive, and in the end it didn't. Things happen as if they should happen.”
The thing that arrived, of course, was Marquez – even if his intention from the start had not been to secure himself a factory seat, but rather to ensure he had the latest factory-spec machinery next year after the struggles of 2024. Old bike.
He made it clear at Le Mans in May that he had a plan, and reiterated when asked for his opinion on Mugello's developments by The Race that, just as at the French Grand Prix, he simply stuck to his guns to ensure that. He got what he wanted.
“Nothing has changed in my team,” he explained. “We had the same information from Le Mans to Montmelo and Mugello.
“I was very clear and honest about what I wanted, and like I told you, I wanted it [2025] The bike is in the official team or Gresini team.
Effectively, Marquez remained composed no matter what was going on around him and made it clear that he had to have a 2025 Ducati and that he did not want to go to Pramac to get one. Ducati – perhaps aware that KTM might pounce on Marquez if he did not get what he wanted – backed down first and decided that losing Martin was a price worth paying.
Marquez would clearly have been very happy to stay at Gresini and have the 2025 bike there, and he might have been a little ashamed of all the repercussions for the rest of the Ducati team that his move had sparked. But not that shy. Most important is that he has the bike he wants for 2025.
Vinales was leaving Aprilia anyway
When Aprilia sheepishly admitted that they had signed Martin to replace the retiring Espargaro without remembering to inform current teammate Maverick Vinales, it could have been interpreted as some sort of casual snub that led to Vinales – whom Rivola was keen to bring on board – defecting to KTM just days later.
However, while the timing of Martin's announcement may have played a part in Viñales' decision to move quickly to secure the Tech3 KTM deal, he was adamant that it was not the deciding factor – as he had already made his decision to leave weeks earlier thanks to the RS-GP's inconsistency.
When asked by The Race about the timeline for his decision to leave Aprilia, Viñales said the motivation was actually the swing in form from dominating Austin to struggling at Jerez two weeks later – all of which happened a month before the other racer made his move.
“To be honest, I was thinking about my decision from Jerez,” Vinales said.
“I didn't feel like continuing, because after Austin I was a little shocked at what I was able to do – but only in one race out of 22 races.
“I was actually thinking a lot about it and, frankly, with the market moving so quickly I wanted to be more calm. To get to the summer and make a decision.
“But given that Aprilia was quick to sign Jorge, it would obviously be a really good team, Maverick and Jorge, but I had already made up my mind before Mugello.”
Espargaro's decisive evening with Martin
As was the case when Vinales made a dramatic mid-season move from Yamaha, team 'captain' Aleix Espargaro played a part in a big deal for Aprilia.
This time Martin had to be his replacement, and Espargaro was happy that “my best friend and championship leader will be riding my bike next year.”
Espargaro ended up with a unique perspective on how Martin dealt with the blow Ducati took.
Espargaro explained: “At Barcelona, Jorge was very close to signing with Ducati. In fact, it was almost done.”
“Then they told him over the weekend at Mugello that they wanted more time, so it wasn't clear.
“Jorge had different options. After the race he stayed at my motorhome until midnight on Sunday, answering a lot of questions and asking a lot of things.
“Then he decided to sign on Monday [for Aprilia]It was very quick, very exceptional because obviously they had my contract, we had the same manager, so it was very easy to change some things and he was an Aprilia rider.
“It wasn't certain at first. He had some doubts. He had another very good option on the table.” [believed to be interest from KTM].
“After the race we spent five hours talking. He asked a lot of things on the technical side and obviously he was quite frustrated with Ducati so on the human side he was very interested in understanding how the team works.
“He saw how happy I was, how much I enjoyed these years with the Aprilia team. So it was very easy for me to convince him and on Monday morning I spoke with Massimo [Rivola] “Massimo, prepare the contract, he is convinced,” he said, “and everyone was very happy at Aprilia.”
But while Espargaro spent a lot of time with Martin in those crucial hours, Martin was adamant that he would not be influenced by his friend.
“It had no effect,” Martin insisted. “I don't want to make my life decisions thanks to someone else.
“I definitely wanted to get information to try to understand where I was moving – but the decision I made was the first thing I felt.
“I might have started thinking about buying another bike, but I said no, I will make the decision from my heart because I will be happy there. When a person is happy, he is fast.”
Pizzicchi was wary of telling Rossi
It's not always easy to tell your boss that you're leaving your job for a better opportunity – and that process is made even more difficult when your current boss is also your childhood hero and global superstar Rossi.
However, Biscechi was relieved to find that Rossi was not disappointed when he discovered he would be leaving the VR46 Ducati ranks next year, having had to break the news that he had been offered a seat at the Aprilia factory.
“We are a little sad because of this, but he is happy for me,” Pizzicchi admitted. “We talked a lot during these days, and we saw each other on Monday to watch the Italian football team.
“That was the day the news came out and we hugged each other and he was happy for me.
“Luckily he understood everything, because I was a bit afraid to be honest! But he understood, like a good friend.
The decision comes less than a year after Bezzecchi chose to stay with a Rossi team on older machines rather than move to current-spec bikes at Ducati's top-tier Pramac team because he felt he would be better off in the familiar surroundings of the VR46.
The fact that this was a plant opportunity and not a transfer between satellites made this a very different decision, Bezzecchi said.
“Once I made the change, I wanted to switch to a full factory team,” he explained.
“Last year, Ducati gave me the possibility to join the factory-supported team, which was a very good offer, but I didn’t know if I would feel the same way with the whole team as I do now.
“This year was different. I had the opportunity to change from my team to the full factory team. The decision was different.”
Did Ducati inadvertently do motorcycles a favor?
While Ducati created an epic factory line-up of multiple 2025 championship winners in Bagnaia and Marquez, this decision effectively left Martin, Bizchi and Pramac out of what was a strong fleet of eight bikes and made it very difficult for the rest of the grid to get between them.
This is a welcome rebalancing in the motorcycle field, Espargaro believes.
“Everyone was expecting changes from Liberty Media and then Al-Marai himself made the move!” Espargaro said jokingly:
“It will be very interesting. Ducati – with the strategy they have followed, which I respect – has helped other manufacturers a lot. Definitely.
“KTM will be very strong. Aprilia will be very strong. With the really passionate riders at KTM and Aprilia and they seem to be [Ducati] If you lose two bikes, it will balance the championship.”
