Moto GP, Bagnaia: “For the first time I could have won, but I was slower than in 2024”

Assen, 29 June 2025 – Pecco Bagnaia is back on the podium and for once he fought almost to the end, finishing just behind Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi . He could have won in his beloved Assen, but he lacked the final push to attack the first two. Marc Marquez won on the two tracks that were in his favour, now holding the championship in his grasp, also thanks to the fall of his brother Alex with an associated fracture to his hand, and Pecco must accept the reality of a 2025 title that was never born. In short, an all-round domination even if Bagnaia, for once, played the big target by showing some progress. In Austin he had won in the Sunday race, but taking advantage of Marc Marquez 's fall, while in Assen he came close despite lacking a bit of general speed. A bittersweet podium for number 63, because in the end the usual problems, those that have plagued him since the beginning of the season, remained.

Bagnaia: “I was slower than last year”

It is not an easy moment for Pecco Bagnaia . The 2025 season is basically over, the world championship is Marc's, the problems are not resolved and in the two tracks where he had won in the last three years he came out battered, beaten by his teammate. The podium in Assen on the one hand made Pecco rediscover a certain competitiveness, but on the other it did not bring the resolution of the deficits that have gripped him from the beginning of the season to today and in 2025 Bagnaia was slower than in 2024 and this is not a positive fact: "Third place has a bittersweet taste - he said - On the one hand it is the first time I could win in the season without crashes, on the other it has been ten races that I have always had the same problem".

Pecco is lacking speed and went slower than a year ago, an unusual thing for a bike that is constantly evolving: “I went slower than in 2024, let's say we've made progress and we hope to make more in view of the Sachsenring which is not my favorite track”. In Assen, the hard tire also helped him a little at the front to make braking more stable, even if the Desmosedici continues to lose its composure when entering a curve: “Maybe we should have chosen the hard in the sprint too, but the temperatures weren't right. This compound gives me more stability and I can manage the bike better”, Pecco's analysis. Now, however, the Sachsenring will arrive, which is another Marquez fiefdom. Bagnaia hopes: “He is very strong in Germany, but he was also like that in Austin and I won. Mugello and Assen were my tracks but Marc came in front. Let's see what comes out”.

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