Aprilia and KTM: no more excuses from 2025

Saddle Revolution

There 2025 season MotoGP will see one of the greatest line-up revolutions from one year to the next in the history of MotoGP. At least half of the 22 seats available in the premier class of two-wheelers will change owners and even an entire team – Pramac – will change manufacturer from Ducati to Yamaha. Many of these movements – and certainly the most important – have been triggered by the decision of Ducati’s top brass to place Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez alongside them in the official red teamthat is, the two riders capable of winning eight of the last 11 world championship Riders’ titles, not counting the current year.

Dream Team and Collateral Consequences

The creation of this dream team, among the strongest ever assembled by a single team in MotoGP, has led to the departure for other shores of three of the main talents of the current top-class: Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini And Marco Bezzecchi they said goodbye to Ducati by accepting the courtship of KTM (Bastianini) and Aprilia (Martin and Bezzecchi). This evolution of the market has attracted no small amount of criticism towards the top management of the Bologna-based company, guilty according to some of having sacrificed too much on the altar of Marc Marquez.

But perhaps it has been little analyzed. the other side of this operationalso from a media point of view and the message sent to the championship. In addition to the technical supremacy of the Desmosedici, in recent years, Ducati has often been able to count on the best riders around. At the moment perhaps only Fabio Quartararo and the very young Pedro Acosta have – for status and talent – ​​a consideration as absolute top-riders without wearing a Ducati-branded suit. This scenario will change radically next year.

No more excuses, having the right bike will count

Aprilia has moved into the house – both in the official team – Martin and Bezzecchi, or the second and third place winners of the 2023 championship. Martinator in particular, he has been Bagnaia’s main rival for two years, the only one capable of staying at the top with a continuity comparable to that of the three-time world champion from Chivasso and the best rider around in the Sprint races. Martin and Bezzecchi have already shown that to be able to battle with Bagnaia and even beat himif the bike allows it. If they don’t succeed, the first thought will be that it’s the RS-GP25 to stop him. In Noale, therefore, a lot will be at stake in terms of image.

The same goes for KTM, which has decided to hire Enea Bastianini. The dominator of the Silverstone weekend had a difficult 2023, but in 2022 he finished third in the championship, defeating Bagnaia on several occasions in direct duels despite a bike that is a year older and this year – with the same vehicle – he is emerging over the distance. Also The Beast has shown that he can compete on equal terms or almost with what is currently the best driver in the world and even in his case, if he doesn’t succeed, the first culprit will be the motorbike.

All in

KTM and Aprilia have gone all-in on the market, taking advantage of an extreme choice by Ducati, and they did very well to do so: The time for alibis ends this year, in Valencia. From next championship Noale and Mattighofen will necessarily have to provide their pilots with tools capable of fighting on equal terms with what will be the new GP-25s. Otherwise, this time, the defeat will be even more resounding.