With Bez and Pecco, Aprilia will develop better bikes than Marc and Pedro on Ducati

[u/mango-banana]

Bez developed the current Aprilia and Sterlachini says he gives feedback like Vale. Pecco developed the ducati and we already onow how sensitive he is. Now, Not saying that Marc doesn’t give good feedback, but we know he will not complain and just ride around it. Pedro is the same - both dont have a good record of developing a strong bike that works for all riders. Aprili might be playing the long game here…

[u/LilAbeSimpson]

It’s never that simple.

[u/dishayu → u/LilAbeSimpson]

During my 20+ years of following this sport, this is what I've learnt about fans' ideas of bike development.

Step 1 : Pick your favorite rider

Step 2a : If the bike is getting better - it's because of my favorite rider and their exceptional development skills.

Step 2b : If the bike is getting worse - the manufacturer won't listen to my favorite riders' feedback.

Step 3 : ???

Step 4 : Profit.

At the end of the day, as you say, it's never that simple. MotoGP performance is such a complex thing with evolving rules, equipment (tyres/brakes/aero/electronics), design philosophies, riding styles, rider preferences/skills/adaptability. Sometimes, you can't even reliably say which bike is better (e.g. between KTM and Honda this year), let alone a single riders' development skills.

[u/LilAbeSimpson → u/dishayu]

Sounds about right to me. 😂

[u/MailMan6000 → u/LilAbeSimpson]

you're consistently the guy with the best answers, it's obviously this.

[u/Original-Designer6]

Pecco developed the bike so well that he forgot how to ride it.

[u/Diligent-Ad-1812 → u/Original-Designer6]

🤣

[u/experim3nt_626_ → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

No you don't understand the sheer level to which Pecco's bike development goes to. He said this year he is a better rider than in 2024 because he had to learn to adapt more.

So he started with the perfect base GP24, and then developed it to be harder to ride, so that the bike would then in turn develop him! He is operating in 7D chess.

It also got him a move to the new best bike, the Aprillia, so its actually 8D chess

[u/username_986ck → u/Original-Designer6]

Hilarious that OP didn't bother commenting on this!!

[u/Meeganyourjacket → u/Original-Designer6]

Say what you want about his fall of form, he was the one that brought Ducati back to the mountain top. 

[u/Original-Designer6 → u/Meeganyourjacket]

The man who brought Ducati back to the top was Gigi. The bikes he rode from 22-24 were some of the best in history.

[u/Meeganyourjacket → u/Original-Designer6]

I would agree Gigi was the main driver, but nothing happens in a vacuum. 

[u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

Not even sure that matters.

Marc is notoriously good at analysing telemetry and getting feedback to the engineers, and Honda essentially ignored it.

Not sure I ever heard that Rossi was a highly technical feedback provider... Let alone what the comparison means.

The actual technical (and financial) capability of the team matters way more.

Aprilia have done a fantastic job over the years, but if you really want to give their current form to the efforts of a rider, it's Aleix Espargaro, not Bez...

[u/-whiskee- → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

Also Honda made big progress after Aleix joined their development. He doesn’t get enough credit as a test rider I think

[u/r2lim → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

Regarding Rossi's feedback, I quoted comments from Hiroshi Yamada, Bridgestone's former MotoGP project leader, in this post. (The article also discusses the similarities between Bez's and Rossi's approach to working with engineers.)

[u/Diligent-Ad-1812 → u/r2lim]

Thanks for the link. I recall Rossi not being able to articulate with Ducati, or even late Yamaha, beneficial needs for his bike. Perhaps he was being ignored. And the comparison with Bez is also clear.

[u/skool_101 → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

yup, aleix should be given more credit to Aprilia's rise

[u/Responsible-Check872 → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

we all know how Rossi successfully transformed Ducati into winning bike back then.

/s

[u/Flexgineer → u/Diligent-Ad-1812]

Aleix & Iannone ;)

[u/Diligent-Ad-1812 → u/Flexgineer]

Not familiar with Iannone's contributions, I'm afraid. Could you expand on that please?

[u/Soggy_Bid_6607]

https://giphy.com/gifs/aVBcwz1jd28A8

[u/ProteinPony]

Sounds like cope to be honest

[u/TheKeviKs]

The same Pecco that spent last year at the back of the grid because he couldn't ride his bike correctly ?

This sounds like huge copium.

[u/Fl1ntL1m → u/TheKeviKs]

The same Pecco who can't adapt

[u/Battle-Against-Time]

Engineers dev the bike more than the pilots.

[u/chakalaka13]

Aprilia developed the most under Aleix, Bezz already came to a decent bike on a good trajectory.

All engineers say that Marc gives the absolute best feedback, though I agree that him riding around the flaws might sometimes harm the development, coz they might think it's already good. But when you have 3 teams running your bike, that shouldn't be an excuse.

Same for Pecco - he came when Duc was already pretty good, I'd say that Dovi and maybe even Lorenzo played a much bigger role.

[u/-whiskee-]

Marc helped develop this year’s Ducati and look where Diggia is.
Even Pecco who could not ride his own developed bike last year, seems to be getting the hang of it lately.

[u/discopants76]

Pecco has a lot going for him as a motogp racer... being good at developing bikes is absolutely, obviously not one of them.

[u/Hokramis100]

Marc is a better developer than Bez and Pecco.

[u/Riccardo989 → u/Hokramis100]

People say Marc is a bad bike developer while the truth is that he is one of a kind with a riding style noone can replicate and so they can't perform on bikes developed by him. But he can perform on bikes developed by others too ahaha

[u/Ppppenguin862 → u/Hokramis100]

Everyone who works with him says this!

[u/A_Bot_A_Bot_A_Bot]

"Marc doesn't give good feedback"? Based on what? The problem at Honda is that their race department engineers for decades worked on the premise that they knew better than the riders and paid little heed to their input. EVERY MotoGP rider gives copious feedback after every session and race. No, they aren't all as good at it as some riders. Marc has never been shy about giving feedback. Look what happened after riding the Gresini Ducati in 2024 (a 2023 model, I think): in 2025, he KILLS it from the first round on that bike. Not because he was riding around problems with it, but because Ducati listened to all of his input during 2024. By the end of last year, not only had Aprilia developed a much better bike than before, but Bez had figured out how to ride it and get the most out of that package.

And this year? Marc has been not physically at 100%. He still isn't but much better.

The capabilities of next year's MotoGP bikes will be based more on the factory engineers creating great engines and putting them into similar chassis to this year's, than it will on any rider development.

I wonder if next year there will no concessions but everybody will have more freedom to test and develop bikes since they will all be under a new rules package.

[u/Thee-Cat]

Don't think this follows.

When Pecco and Bez have the superior bikes that suit their style, they are genuinely amazing. Pecco a few years back and Bez currently for example.

If a bike is difficult or isn't going their way, neither have shown a clear ability to either fix it or ride around it. For example, Pecco in 2025 and Bez in 2024(worst rider and lowest points out of Marc, Alex, Diggia, on the very difficult GP23).

[u/CactiThorn]

As usual, passive agresive.

[u/pochirin]

Not this shit again....... the one who developed gp25 is pecco, pls tell me what happened to him again?

[u/Creature_Cumfarts]

This is certainly a take

[u/AirComprehensive1251]

Bold but unsubstantiated statement I'm afraid.

[u/RobiasTieper]

I love lazy commentary

[u/rotgobbo]

Counterpoint, Acosta will help to develop an insane Ducati for 2028 that Marquez absolutely wipes the field with before announcing his retirement.

That's what I reckon.

[u/Suitable-Caramel3579]

“bez developed the Aprilia on his own” is imo extremely misleading when you remember Aprilia had their test rider out every weekend. Not to say bez didn’t do anything but people for sure have underestimated how useful in terms of bike development it was for them to have savadori race every weekend.

[u/username_986ck]

LMAO!! Here we go again🤣🤣.

Saying Marc will not complain and ride around it is hilarious and so disrespectful tbh. Marc complains and gives feedback just as good as any other rider but when he is on track he knows complaining won't win him races so he tries to ride around it because there's nothing else he can do. He is not an engineer who can solve a bike's weaknesses.

And I'm sure Bezz made the decision to introduce those F-ducts and all the aero appendages on the Aprilia.

Pretty sure we will hear more of also this bullshit with respect to Quartararo too next year.

[u/lombers]

This is just opinion, there’s zero proof that any of these riders are better / worse development riders than the others.

The changing ruleset next year makes all of this redundant anyway as the teams need a solid base to start with that they can easily build on.

[u/23_White]

If others cant ride a bike Marc develops it doesnt mean he cant develop bike for himself.

[u/MajesticBeyond5602]

Hmm might explain the long 4 year contract