Thursday’s press conferences in Assen, which as always represent the appetizer of the race weekend, will undoubtedly be interesting. We all know how the transfer games have gone so far, we know Ducati’s choice of choosing Marc Marquez as Bagnaia’s partner for 2025, the destiny of Jorge Martìn who turns towards Aprilia. Then there was the joining of Bastianini and Vinales in KTM Tech3 and yesterday the news of Bezzecchi’s hiring in Aprilia. What do these six pilots have in common? Precisely the fact that they will be the protagonists of the two press conferences on Thursday. In the first there will be Bagnaia, Martìn and Marquez. In the other the other three. What a stellar cast, any Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t have done it better.
But what can we expect? In a world where political correctness does not dominate the world of communication and sponsors’ money does not represent the master father to be respected and feared, a magnificent spectacle could escape us. But we are in 2024, we know the great levers that move the paddock and it is unlikely that real fireworks will arrive. Martìn will be on ‘stage’ with Marquez, in fact the rider who took from under his nose a Ducati Factory that he had been coveting for at least three years. Aprilia will be his new home and we are certain that the pair formed by the Spaniard with the RS-GP can be a real thorn in his side in the future. But Jorge’s disappointment was clear especially for those who had the opportunity to meet his gaze at Mugello, when he already knew how things would go.
So what will he say in the conference? It’s unlikely he’ll decide to go all out on the Ducati who rejected him in favor of Marc, it is much more plausible that he will put on a good face by singing the praises of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and promising to be the first rider from a satellite team to win a riders’ title in MotoGP. Perhaps this would be the perfect disgrace for Martìn, that is, moving bag and baggage to Noale bringing with him a nice No. 1 to place on the front fairing of the RS-GP.
Then there is Bagnaia, who had simply asked that the internal balance of the team not be disturbed, accepting the arrival of anyone and placing only this as a necessary condition. Let’s say that a rider like Marc Marquez doesn’t seem to respond 100% to this ‘request’, because we are talking not about a simple driver, but about the driver, about the only superstar on the grid. With this we absolutely do not want to belittle Pecco, who is a two-time MotoGP champion, has a Moto2 title under his belt and this year rightly cultivates the ambition of making it three of a kind.
Except that Marquez is Marquez, you can’t really expect him to tiptoe around asking for permission. He has too strong a personality, he is too hungry to reassert himself as leader of the pack. Will he stay calm in his corner of the box, respecting Bagnaia, who represents the owner a bit? We highly doubt it. And what will Marc himself say on Thursday? We can’t know, but he will certainly be the one with the bronze face on the scene, the sly smile of someone who knows he got exactly what he wanted and the way he wanted it.
Fast forward, after this first conference on explosive paper, ne comes a second one that is potentially no different. Vinales, Bastianini and Bezzecchi were present, all three fresh from moving on to other bikes and teams. Maverick chose KTM Tech3, as did Bastianini. Marco will be the replacement for Top Gun on Noale’s motorbike. Are there frictions at play? In reality there are none, although above all Vinales’ farewell to Aprilia came like a bolt from the blue, because after Aleix Espargarò’s farewell, it seemed completely natural that it was Maverick who became the Captain.
His choice, however, was different, perhaps also driven by the arrival of Martìn in the team, someone who certainly would not have willingly accepted being an assistant. Did this bother Maverick to the point of wanting a change of scenery? It’s difficult to say with certainty, but when we met him in Misano during the Aprilia All Starsit seemed clear that the choice to leave Noale had been made and also somehow connected to Jorge’s arrival.
A change which, however, has opened the doors to an official team for Bezzecchi, who will be the Italian so sought after by Rivola to occupy one of the Aprilia seats. Marco in 2024 is suffering more than he should, this is undeniable. But no one has any doubts about his talent and his captivating personality certainly doesn’t displease. Bezzecchi will be able to find himself and with Martìn he will build a fiery couple.
We arrive at the last one on the list, namely Enea Bastianini. Will he be disappointed by Ducati’s choice? The Beast in his two years with Ducati Factory (actually, one and six months) was not lucky. He got hurt immediately, missed most of 2023 and ended the season on a high by winning in Sepang. Everyone hoped to see him at those levels again immediately in 2024, but Enea was fast at times, instead bringing to the table a consistency of performance which in any case still keeps him in the thick of the fight for the title. He too could try to leave Borgo Panigale by bringing the number 1 on the fairing of his future bike, a KTM RC16 in Tech3.
Of the six pilots present at the conference, perhaps Enea is the one who has the most to complain about, but only towards himself. He was chosen at the end of 2022 instead of Martìn, but he had a lot of bad luck. He has almost never managed to shine with the same consistency he showed in that magnificent 2022 in Gresini. Maybe finding his historic crew chief Pigiamino in KTM will give him back the confidence that perhaps he has lacked in these two seasons.
In short, the two press conferences on Thursday will put a lot of elements on the table. Maybe it will also depend on the wit of the journalists present, their questions and their ability to stimulate the right reactions from the pilots. We do not intend that it is necessary to stir up controversy or discussion, because that is not the case. Rather, it would be important to manage for a few minutes to ensure that absolute political correctness is not the true master of these two conferences which on paper are explosive. We’ll talk about it again Thursday evening.
