Pecco Bagnaia warned Marc Marquez “storm is coming”

Francesco Bagnaia continued his sizzling form last weekend at Assen, winning both the sprint and Dutch MotoGP ahead of Jorge Martin.

But the focus ahead of the weekend surrounded Martin and in particular Marc Marquez, who will line-up alongside Bagnaia in a ‘super team’ for Ducati in 2025.

Expecting fireworks, TNT sports pundit Neil Hodgson gave his views on next season’s potential battle.

Hodgson said: “Pecco knows what’s coming. A storm is coming, massively. Marc normally likes to take over the garage and with celebrations and everything likes to get everyone on his side.

“It’s going to be much harder and he’s basically going into Pecco’s family. But Ducati like winners and Ducati, as we know, will go wherever the winner is.

“They will be like we love, we love, we love, but he’s winning at the moment. It’s going to be really tricky for Ducati management to manage it. Normally Marc wins in this situation.”

Hodgson wasn’t the only one speaking about Marquez and Bagnaia, as five-time world champion Mick Doohan joined in on the conversation.

Talking to TNT sports, Doohan added: “I think they are both strong personalities. Different personalities but their mindsets are similar.

“I think it’s a win for Ducati. They are going to be able to develop the bike very well. It might make it more difficult for the other Ducati riders.

“Pecco is strong and is only getting stronger. He is coming into his prime whereas Marc is there but coming back from a really terrible injury and a period where he didn’t know what was going on. But equally, they both know how to operate independently so the winner will be Ducati.”

Despite being settled at Ducati and having the whole team behind him, Bagnaia is sure to come under big pressure from Marquez.

Doohan believes the reigning world champion will have a tough time fending off Marquez.

“The Ducati team is showing that they can actually perform so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for Marc,” began Doohan.

“His focus is on developing this year with the 23 bike and then looking forward to jumping on the 25 bike.

“Clearly they are the dominant manufacturer at the moment. He is in a good space at the moment.

“Bagnaia needs to perform at the end of the day and he is getting stronger and stronger. It’s not going to be easy for Marc but equally it’s not going to be easy for Bagnaia.”