Italian Francesco Bagnaia bids to win his fourth successive MotoGP race on Sunday in San Marino and world championship leader Fabio Quartararo has labelled the Ducati rider “the man to beat”.
Third-placed Bagnaia’s hopes of eating into his 44-point deficit to Quartararo — Spaniard Aleix Espargaro is in second spot, 32 points adrift — could also rest on not only his Ducati team-mate Jack Miller but the generosity of the other six riders who ride Ducatis for satellite teams.
There have been murmurings in the Italian press that “suggestions” have been made to them to not get in Bagnaia’s way.
However, Ducati’s sporting director Paolo Ciabatti told La Repubblica that was not strictly true.
“No matter who the Ducati rider is, if he is in a position to win then he must do so,” he said.