Marc Marquez v Pecco Bagnaia tipped to have “mistakes, crashes, collisions…”

The 2025 MotoGP World Championship will come down to a head-to-head battle between Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, according to TNT Sports MotoGP presenter Neil Hodgson.

Bagnaia and Marquez will both race for the factory Ducati team this season following Marquez’s switch from Gresini to join Bagnaia in the Bologna factory’s official squad, the Italian having joined in 2021 and scored 29 victories and two world titles since.

“I think they’re both so talented,” Hodgson in an interview with Crash.net.

“Obviously Marc’s [Marquez] got more world titles, but I feel like Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] is still improving, still learning, and he’s an absolute machine.

“You write Pecco Bagnaia off at your peril, don’t you? Quite often on a race weekend, he’ll have a really average Friday, even an average Saturday, and he’ll bounce back and win the Grand Prix on Sunday.

“So, I can see it going on and on.

“I think both riders will push each other extremely hard, obviously they share the data so they can copy each other’s homework. So, I think they’ll both push each other.

“I think we’re going to have a season very similar to last year, where you’ve got two riders pushing each other.

“There’ll be lots of mistakes as well, I think there’ll be crashes, I think there’ll be collisions between them, I do, I really do, which is probably not a big statement because we’ve seen it in the past.”

Marc Marquez at Ducati 'main storyline' of MotoGP 2025

Such is the ability of the riders in the Ducati Lenovo Team and the technical superiority the Bologna manufacturer has displayed in the past few seasons, Hodgson believes – ahead of the first round of 2025 – that this year’s world title will be decided between Marquez and Bagnaia.

“I feel like at this point, before the season starts, you’ve got to have them two down as the main storyline and you can’t help but feel like it’s going to be a bit of a head-to-head race for the world title with them,” Hodgson said.

“But I’ve been doing this job long enough to know that sometimes things can change, especially in motorcycle racing with the danger element of it and all that lot – things can change pretty quickly.”

Watch all the action from the 2025 MotoGP season live on TNT Sports and discovery+ starting with the Thailand Grand Prix on Friday 28th February. TNT Sports and discovery+ is the home of motorbikes with coverage of every race from MotoGP, FIM World Superbikes, Bennetts British Superbikes and FIM Speedway GP. Follow @tntsportsbikes to keep up with all the action on social.