Francesco Bagnaia walked away from the Sprint race at the Grand Prix of Aragon with no points as he finished down in 12th.
The Italian had produced a solid effort in qualifying as he put his GP25 on the second row in fourth. But Bagnaia was noticeably struggling on the bike as he could not find any feeling from the Desmosedici.
He was over six tenths behind teammate Marc Marquez on pole position, who went on to win the Sprint after losing the lead at the start to brother Alex. Meanwhile, Bagnaia fell back and limped home a disappointing P12.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time/Diff |
| 1 | Marc Marquez | Ducati Lenovo (GP25) | 19m 43.026s |
| 2 | Alex Marquez | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24) | +2.080s |
| 3 | Fermin Aldeguer | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)* | +4.630s |
| 4 | Franco Morbidelli | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP24) | +5.944s |
| 5 | Pedro Acosta | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +6.095s |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25) | +6.379s |
| 7 | Maverick Viñales | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +7.213s |
| 8 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP25) | +8.343s |
| 9 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +9.982s |
| 10 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25) | +11.427s |
| 11 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +13.331s |
| 12 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo (GP25) | +14.017s |
| 13 | Jack Miller | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +16.494s |
| 14 | Alex Rins | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +17.202s |
| 15 | Miguel Oliveira | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +18.287s |
The other five Ducati riders finished inside the top six, with Pedro Acosta finishing P5 for KTM. Ducati are ‘running out of patience’ with Bagnaia as he continues to struggle with the GP25.
Bagnaia has been crying out for help as he cannot find any improvements from the bike, despite the manufacturer saying otherwise. The 28-year-old’s reaction after the Sprint at Aragon spoke volumes about his woes.
Francesco Bagnaia looked ‘sarcastic’ towards Ducati after Aragon Sprint woes
Returning to the garage after finishing P12, Bagnaia had his helmet on and visor up. Speaking via TNT Sports 2 (07/06, 2:28 pm), Neil Hodgson noticed the two-time MotoGP champion’s body language was ‘sarcastic’ towards Ducati.
Hodgson felt that Bagnaia was reiterating his need for a better feeling on the bike as he was considerably behind the other Ducatis. Talking about Franco Morbidelli, who finished P4 for VR46, he said: “Yeah, sits fourth in the championship, got cleaned out in Silverstone, so should have a bike-full [of] more points.
“I mean, he sits just 20 points behind the man in third, Bagnaia, who during the break, we saw pictures of him coming into the garage.
“He had his helmet still on but his eyes were smiling what looked like in a very, you’d have to say, sarcastic way.
“It was a body language of: ‘Look, I told you, I need a certain feeling.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Marc Marquez piles more misery on Francesco Bagnaia with Aragon Sprint win
Marquez’s win in the Sprint gives him another 12 points in his bid to grab his seventh MotoGP title. With Bagnaia scoring no points, he is now 84 points behind his teammate, with Morbidelli edging closer to his P3 spot in the standings.
Marquez is the most successful rider at Aragon with six wins. He is the firm favourite to grab his seventh victory, having completely dominated the field thus far.
The Spaniard was almost a second clear of the field in FP1 on Friday. Johann Zarco doesn’t understand how Marquez is so fast at Aragon, as he sums up how the rest of the grid must be feeling.
Pedro Acosta has passionately defended Bagnaia as he is adamant the Italian will regain his form at Ducati. But it is clear the 28-year-old must find it as soon as he can as his championship aspirations slip further out of reach.
