In the fifth round of the 2025 MotoGP season, the championship heads towards the iconic Jerez of the European and Spanish Grand Prix.
One of the calendar’s most popular stops is rising expectations for this year’s Spanish Grand Prix at Geres, following a thrilling duel for the victory of Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia last season.
That day, Bagnaia left the winner and expected both riders to be repeated on equal machines on the factory Ducati team.
But is that realistic to expect?
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The latest Clash MotoGP podcast doesn’t convince senior journalist Lewis Duncan.
“I think everyone is hoping for a repeat of last year, right? I’m hoping to see Pecco vs. Mark Round 2,” he began.
“It was the great, great Grand Prix we had last year. It was probably the first Grand Prix last year that Mark was adequately competitive with that Ducati.
“I’m sorry I don’t think I’ll see that. I knew at the time that Mark was on the GP23 and the difference between the GP24 wasn’t that big.
“We learned that the bike Marquez was on, not far from the GP24. We were barely close to the GP23.
“So, not the most competitive bike, but the performance with fresh performance on the bike, is expected to be repeated after watching this year when the two are on equal machines. I burst everyone’s bubbles, but I’ll have to see a massive switch from Pecco’s Bagnaia to see that.”
Marquez led the championship 17 points ahead, winning all four sprints so far, and three of his first four Grand Prix.
Bagnaia is drifting 26 points in third place, winning the US Grand Prix, following a crash from the lead.
A key weakness for Bagnaia in 2025 was the lack of speed in the sprint. This condemned repeated changes in the bike’s balance caused by small fuel tanks mandated for half-distance races.
Jordan Moreland, host of the Crash MotoGP podcast and social media manager, believes Bagnaia’s weekend success in Geres will be measured by the results on Saturday.
“Bagnaia continues to talk about the issue about the Sprint fuel tank and how it changes the bike,” Moreland said.
“And he feels very weak on the front end.
“Last year, these two races, Le Mans, also thought the sprint race was really unlucky for him. If he can finish on the podium in the sprint, I think it’s a good start to his weekend.
“There’s no doubt that he’ll definitely get better at Grand Prix because he’s good at Grand Prix. His track record shows that he won the last three races at Geres.”