What about Marc?
Will the reigning MotoGP world champion stick around for another two seasons and beyond his 35th birthday? Vibes from the 2026 Ducati Lenovo Team launch would indicate ‘si’…
By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Falex/Ducati Corse.
Well-fed and watered, we were among the first to leave the mountaintop Spinale chalet on the second night of the ‘Campioni in Pista’ Ducati Lenovo Team launch, held in the snowy peaks of the Dolomites in northeastern Italy. Outside the restaurant that was populated by Ducati senior management and associated guests from sponsors and significant groups like Audi as well as a healthy media attendance, was a frozen 44,000-euro Panigale V4 R. Wallets were aching. Two of us entered the first ski lift capsule for the dark descent and return to the resort town of Madonna di Campiglio. Surprisingly, the second batch of people to exit the station at the bottom was 2022 and 2023 world champion Pecco Bagnaia, accompanied by his sister and PA Carola and his manager from the VR46 set-up.
It’s possible that the recently turned 29-year-old was tired after long day of promotion duties showing off the new Ducati Corse factory colours for what will be his sixth campaign in that distinctive ‘red’. But the fact that he left his teammate, Marc Marquez, shuffling on the small restaurant dancefloor under the illumination of content creators’ mobile phones and with the bonhomie of figures like Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna and Ducati Motor Holding CEO Claudio Domenicali for company was a stark contrast of circumstances. Speculation about Bagnaia’s fate with the team and brand wafted invisibly over the first official day of ‘Campioni in Pista’, especially with recent rumours of Pedro Acosta’s imminent deal with the Italians popping up online in the preceding days. Marquez, who has not raced a Grand Prix bike since October 5th, meanwhile revelled in the attention befitting of the company’s third different world champion in four years and with the assurance of a man that is clearly feted and wanted by the Bologna-based firm.
It was hard not to draw a parallel with the glistening, icy Panigale outside the restaurant doors and Bagnaia’s apparent future with the Ducati Corse flagship effort. Bewilderment of the Italian’s erratic competitiveness in 2025 after three glorious seasons has still not thawed either. From the entire MotoGP grid, only Fabio Quartararo and Brad Binder have been with their respective teams (seven years) longer than Bagnaia with Ducati Corse’s flagship. Once again Marquez has dwarfed a teammate, even one as entrenched and celebrated as Pecco with his native brand.
2026 is a bridge year for MotoGP technology, the end of a contract window for the five manufacturers on the grid with Dorna Sports as well as satellite teams and brands. Of course, it will also be the final Grand Prix term for riders, either in the championship itself or with their current employees. As the series sorts itself out for the next five and two-year phases, the transfer stories and narratives arcs will be as fascinating and fervent as any of the -on-track action in the coming months. “2026 will be tricky, not on track, outside the track,” Marc said to us in the post-presentation press conference. The clamour for confirmation of plans and the changes to the fabric of MotoGP means that a raft of announcements could surface earlier than expected, so teams and riders can dispel with endless questions and conjecture while they get on with the business of succeeding in the last volley of the current 1000s and then also charting progress of the development of the 850s.
Marquez, the second oldest rider in MotoGP, sits in the familiar position of being ‘first’ in this mire of mixture. The Catalan’s eventual decision will arrange the subsequent spaces, the budgets, the priorities and the possibilities for his peers.
In Madonna di Campiglio Marc’s replies to enquires about what he will do were not the first and will not be the last. A seasoned veteran of the game, he was giving little away but the team launch press conference was the opening salvo of questions for his timeline and considerations for possible fifteenth and sixteenth seasons in MotoGP and that Valentino Rossi-eclipsing tenth title bid.
Why go again? Marc is clearly nestling comfortably in a plump Ducati bosom; voluptuous with potential for 2027 thanks to Ducati Corse’s extensive experience with Pirelli tyres through their achievements in WorldSBK. Domenicali allegedly said to Sky Sports Italia that re-upping with their star was the priority. His seventh MotoGP championship and the glut of 11 GP victories in 2025 has not quenched the thirst. “I have a big passion about riding a bike,” he had said on stage for the presentation. “But not [just] riding a bike, about competition. It’s the best fuel I have in my body. And a season like 2025 just creates more motivation.”
In the press conference he was more revealing. “I’m happy with my life, I’m happy with my work, if you can say ‘work’,” he added. “The most difficult challenge of my career I have already done, that was to come back [from his broken right arm]. Now if something [more success] arrives, it’s welcome.”
A final one-year sortie with the GP26 is unlikely, even if Marquez answered “nothing” to TNT commentator Gavin Emmett’s question about what would be at the top of a wishlist for the forthcoming Sepang test. He might be content with his race bike based on the GP25 and with electronics and aero upgrades and final revision to Ducati’s masterful rear ride height device to come for 2026, but if Marc continues as a Grand Prix rider then it will be for both 2027 and 2028. “If we decide to go forward, it will be a two-year contract…” he said. “The project of manufacturers are by two years. If not, it will not be a big benefit for the team and the manufacturer.”
Why call it a day? As much as Marc blurs the separation between work and passion, 2026 will be a busy year for him. His profile means a loaded calendar of promotion requirements for his employer as well as MotoGP itself. The requests will be dizzying. You have to wonder why he isn’t already tired with the periphery of the circus before then contending with the pressures of the paddock and the demands of the travel. Then, there is the physical wear and tear of 107 crashes in the last five years and the nagging doubt that his right shoulder is still not quite ready. “If you asked me two weeks ago, I would say, ‘hmm, so so’,” he said, earnestly, about the current state of the joint. “But as [with] every rehabilitation or recovery, we have some ups and downs, and now I start to feel better and better. I don’t know which percentage I am, because I don’t know what will be my 100%. I think it will be the same as before, but I need to analyse this and try to discover.”
Marc also hinted at the drain of yet another circle of recovery. Something he’s already frustratingly familiar with after the four operations it took to get him race ready between 2020 and 2024. “Yeah, another year we did a long winter, tough winter, about the mental side because a lot of physiotherapy sessions,” he half-sighed “and a lot of gym sessions with low weights.”
Ducati deservingly flaunted their MotoGP feats in numbers through the presentation: 1-2 in the championship, a third Triple Crown (Rider, Constructor, Team titles), 17 GP wins from 22 in 2025 (and 44 podiums) and 6 of the first 8 riders in the standings. Although its unlikely, there is the slim possibility that they don’t hit the mark with the 850 for 2027. Ducati Corse could get it wrong. 2027 will scramble the paint palette of MotoGP and the dominant hue of scarlet could well turn another shade. Marc might re-enter the basin of frustration that he found in his last two years with HRC. “Nobody can promise the best bike,” he warned. “You have to feel and follow your instinct what is the best project for yourself.”
Realistically, where could he go? A reunion with a resurgent HRC seems the most imaginable factory move. Aprilia would not sit right, KTM would struggle for budget and Yamaha is a different type of project. Marquez speaks in glowing terms of his one-year experience alongside brother Alex at Gresini, so that would be the next most logical choice if he wants to copy Rossi’s graceful ease into retirement outside of ‘works’ status, but it would also make little sense for arguably the series’ all-time greatest rider.
Marc’s sensitivity to Bagnaia’s situation led him to lament the speediness with how 2027 and 2028 will undoubtedly be cemented. He said of the pecking order: “It’s not fair, but it’s like this.”
“I would like to go more forward and wait a bit more and decide our future mid-season,” he added. “[But] I think some riders will close already before the first race. It’s true that I’m one of them, we are in conversations, but I need to analyse everything, what is the best for my professional and personal life.”
Bagnaia could already be out of Ducati Lenovo. If not, then he might only have a handful of races to prove that 2025 was a brief mind-bend. Thanks to 31 GP wins to-date and those two titles he is already a Ducati ‘legend’ but six years could be the point where both rider and team need to refresh. Pecco’s career prospects with Ducati will endure if he takes the easy option of steering a Desmosedici from the VR46 squad because if MM93 sticks around for another brace of seasons then it’s quite clear who will be bringing the heat.