Aprilia, Rivola tries to patch things up with Vinales: “If he stays…”

The waltz of the pilots market

In the days following Ducati’s celebration for the double achieved in the Italian Grand Prix with Bagnaia and Bastianini, the bombshell news relating to the rider market emerged one after the other: from the passage of Jorge Martin in Aprilia to that of Enea Bastianini in KTM as Pedro Acosta’s future teammate, up to the last, but not least, confirmation of Marc Marquez in Ducati.

Viñales still in Aprilia?

However, returning to the first official statement, that of the current world championship leader Martin from Pramac to Aprilia for 2025, the Spaniard will replace his compatriot Aleix Espargarò, who in recent days had announced his retirement at the end of this season. In Noale, in the meantime, it is not yet clear what the future will be Maverick Viñaleseven if the latter actually seems destined to team up with the reigning vice-champion despite a potential and rich offer that could come from Honda.

Viñales: the new ‘Captain’

In Aprilia, the CEO Massimo Rivola has in fact praised its driver on more than one occasion, who in the event of renewal will take on the new role of ‘Captain’. This ‘position’ today belongs to Espargarò, but in view of 2025 this leadership will belong to Viñales, and not to the newly arrived Martin, if the former Suzuki and Yamaha rider decides to remain in Aprilia. Rivola himself explained it: “If Maverick stays, he will be the new Captain because he fought for Aprilia in difficult moments, brought the team to the highest levels and showed us a different way of riding the bike compared to Aleix – he explained in a statement reported by speedweek.com – if he stays, he will be the captain, not Jorge. I’m sorry for Jorge, but you have to earn the credit on the track. He did it, but on a different bike. Maverick went through this process with us.” At Mugello Vinales did not hide a certain disappointment towards Aprilia who did not block him immediately after Qatar by exploiting an option in favor of the Noale manufacturer. Regarding the fact that Vinales was not aware of the potential arrival of Martin Rivola he admitted: “I made a mistake in not notifying him, but the priority was to finalize the contract.”