Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia start Day 1 as teammates with handshake

Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia started their Ducati alliance with a handshake.

The new Ducati Lenovo teammates arrived for “the first day of school”, as the manufacturer jokingly labelled it, on Thursday.

Ducati cheekily posted images of their brand-new rider duo mid-way through the launch of Aprilia’s 2025 MotoGP bike, which featured Jorge Martin unveiling the #1.

Martin was forced to seek pastures new because Ducati chose Marquez for their factory team instead.

Marquez has now arrived for Day 1 of work with the official team, and swiftly came face-to-face with Bagnaia.

They met with a handshake but it won’t quell expectations of their rivalry for the new season.

As great as Marquez and Bagnaia are as a rider duo, Ducati might face an uphill battle to keep both men happy.

They will both have their eye on ripping away Martin’s championship - and could get in each other’s way.

The relationship inside the box will come under scrutiny, in a way that it never has when Bagnaia teamed with Enea Bastianini.

Marquez represents somewhat of a change in philosophy from Ducati’s usual plan to promote young talent from within.

But his genius on Gresini’s year-old machine last season convinced their bosses to pick him.

Marquez and Bagnaia (and VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio) will ride the GP25, the factory-spec Ducati which will be the best machine on the MotoGP grid this year.

How long can the handshake between Marquez and Bagnaia last before things get tetchy?