Francesco Bagnaia has dismissed suggestions that nobody wants to win the 2026 MotoGP title, arguing the championship has turned out so unpredictable due to increased competition rather than inconsistency from leading contenders.
This year’s title fight is shaping up to be one of the closest in recent history, with eight riders separated by 65 points at the halfway stage of the season. Six of them remain realistic championship contenders, with the Ducatis of Marc Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio taking the fight to the Aprilia quartet.
While MotoGP is enjoying its first genuine multi-manufacturer title battle since 2022, bringing more riders into the fight, the season has also been characterised by costly mistakes and setbacks for nearly every frontrunner.
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi has failed to score points for four consecutive Sunday races after emerging as the series’ best-performer early in the season, Jorge Martin has struggled with both speed and fitness since his dominant win in France, while Ai Ogura is only now beginning to emerge as a complete rider.
Over at Ducati, Marquez’s title defence was hampered by injury before his surgery, Di Giannantonio threw away valuable points with poor starts, while Alex Marquez failed to replicate his 2025 heroics early in the year before an injury took him out of contention entirely.
KTM's Pedro Acosta even joked about the situation, saying it “looks like no one wants to lead the championship”, before backing Marquez for the title.
“At the moment Marc is the guy who should have the number one in the fairing. Marc at the moment is the man to beat," he said.
But two-time MotoGP champion Bagnaia rejected the prevailing notion about the 2026 title fight, insisting such comments ignore other factors that played a role in determining the outcome of the first half of the season.
“For me, it's wrong to say that nobody wants to win this championship, because everybody is pushing a lot,” the Italian said on Sunday at the Sachsenring.
“This year, for the first time, Ducati is not dominant like in the past, and more bikes are competitive, like in 2020. So, this makes the competition higher. In a race you can gain 20 points, in a race you can gain one point, and in a race you can lose 20. It depends a lot on you and how you feel on your bike.
“But even if in the last two GPs I lost points, I gained 35 points compared to Mugello. So the balance is positive, but we need to solve our problems to fight for it. If you look at Bez, he's pushing hard. He's having bad luck. But he's still the fastest for me on Aprilia.
“Ogura is doing a fantastic job. He's always competitive, and if in the future he understands how to be competitive also in the first laps, he will be fighting for wins every Sunday.
“Marc is really strong. But with Ducati, it's like one race one rider is strong, and the next race another rider is strong. It's not very constant with results as Aprilia. But we are working on it and I think this second part will be more flat.”
Aprilia rider Martin heads into the summer break with a cushion of 14 points over Trackhouse sophomore Ogura, while Marquez sits only 18 points off the top, having faced a deficit of over 100 points just four rounds ago in Mugello.
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