MotoGP Insider Predicts Intense 2025 Championship Battle Within Ducati

Saajan Jogia | Feb 23, 2025

Apr 12, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Francesco Bagnaia (1) of Italy and Ducati Lenovo Team during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

An intense championship battle between factory Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez has been predicted by TNT Sports MotoGP presenter Neil Hodgson. The former Superbike World Championship rider believes both multi-world champions, who have access to each other's data, will push each other to the limit in a bid for the title.

Marquez joined the factory team this season after a successful stint with Gresini Ducati in 2024, while Bagnaia lost a chance at his third title last year after Jorge Martin won the championship by ten points. Bagnaia has been with Ducati for a long time but struggled on the GP25 MotoGP bike during pre-season testing while Marquez was fast enough to indicate that the new bike, despite its challenges, remains in his comfort zone. Hodgson explained how immensely talented the two riders are and predicted a fierce battle in the months to come. He told Crash.net:

“I think they’re both so talented.

“Obviously Marc’s [Marquez] got more world titles, but I feel like Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] is still improving, still learning, and he’s an absolute machine.

“You write Pecco Bagnaia off at your peril, don’t you? Quite often on a race weekend, he’ll have a really average Friday, even an average Saturday, and he’ll bounce back and win the Grand Prix on Sunday.

“So, I can see it going on and on.

“I think both riders will push each other extremely hard, obviously they share the data so they can copy each other’s homework. So, I think they’ll both push each other.

“I think we’re going to have a season very similar to last year, where you’ve got two riders pushing each other.

“There’ll be lots of mistakes as well, I think there’ll be crashes, I think there’ll be collisions between them, I do, I really do, which is probably not a big statement because we’ve seen it in the past.”

While Hodgson thinks both factory Ducati riders will be the championship favorites, he didn't rule out the element of unpredictability in motorcycle racing by suggesting that things can change swiftly. He said:

“I feel like at this point, before the season starts, you’ve got to have them two down as the main storyline and you can’t help but feel like it’s going to be a bit of a head-to-head race for the world title with them.

“But I’ve been doing this job long enough to know that sometimes things can change, especially in motorcycle racing with the danger element of it and all that lot – things can change pretty quickly.”