It was the crossroads of last season, the number one Ducati was very keen towards the title but after that Martin came back and Pecco went through a difficult period, especially in the Sprints
May 17, 2024
Lto fearthe certainty that something was there broken. Inevitable, one motorcycle he was over it over one leg. A world championship that up to that point had been quite downhill.
All that change in an instant, the sky goes from clear to clear black and then, a few hours later, yes brightens. The video can be seen at the bottom of the article – but be careful – they are quite strong images, even after some time.
What a Sunday! that Sunday a few months ago. It was the September 3, 2023 And Pecco Bagnaia, to avoid the domination of Aprilia he had started very strong, taking the lead immediately several meters aheadthen, after a few bends the highside the violent flight to the ground, all-the-motorcycles that pass by him and Binder’s passing over his leg.
Chills, even today thinking about it.
The MotoGP returns to Catalonia, Barcelona, the Montmeló circuit in about ten days. How he will live it Pecco Bagnaia?
The two-time MotoGP world champion experienced a start to the season between great lights and some shadows caused not only by his mistakes but by cumbersome rivals like Jorge Martin And Marc Marquez. The world championship promises to be very good, as it was in the first 5 weekends.
Bagnaia before and after the accident in Barcelona
Pthat’s until last year’s Catalan GP he had collected 4 wins in the Sprint And 5 in long racebeyond 7 podiums. All in 11 weekends: big numbers.
In the remaining 9 weekends he collected 2 wins in long race And zero in the Sprint, as well as 10 podiums. However, he numbers in the top three places but not as a dominator. In the second part of the season he emerged forcefully Jorge Martin capable, in the last 9 GPs of 7 wins in the Sprint 3 in long race, as well as 2 podiums.
In this 2024 instead Martin is making a difference with 2 victories in the long race, 3 in the Sprint and 3 other podiums: therefore eight times in the top three in ten races. The points are already there 129 against i 91 Of Bagnaia.
Pecco is very strong in the long races but loses ground to Martin in the short ones: in 5 races the ranking of the long races says 79 to 77 for Jorge who however overpowers Pecco in the Sprints: 50 to 14.
In short, after Barcelona, like it or not, Pecco has lost, by his own admission, that ability to be faster and better straight away: he manages to be ready for Sunday but not for Saturday.
Bagnaia had won 4 of the first 11 Sprints contested, also achieving 5 podiums. Since Barcelona he hasn’t won any in 14, taking 4 podiums but zero this year.
Bagnaia, after the victory of the last championship, He admitted that the Montmelò accident had conditioned the continuation of the season. However, he had not admitted it before so as not to give further motivation to Martin, who already had enough.
What appears to be the case, however, is that from the point of view of organizing the weekend, Bagnaia is even slower than Martin in getting himself right, so on Saturday the Spaniard has so far managed to gain the advantage which places him first by a margin in the standings.
That dramatic September day something happened in Barcelona, the worst was averted and when Pecco left the clinic on crutches everyone was happy or very happy. A miracle, thank you. But from a sporting point of view, Bagnaia lost something and Martin took advantage of it.
Now Pecco returns to Barcelona and will be the champion he is extra motivations to make a difference. On the Catalan circuit Bagnaia has never shone: zero podiums in all classes except for second place in the sprint last year.
