Pecco Bagnaia v Marc Marquez Round 2? “I just don’t think we will see it..."

The fifth round of the 2025 MotoGP season sees the championship head to Europe and to the iconic Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix.

One of the most popular stops on the calendar, there is heightened expectation for this year’s Spanish GP at Jerez following the thrilling duel for victory between Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia last season.

Bagnaia came off the winner that day, with many hopeful of a repeat with both riders on equal machinery at the factory Ducati team.

But is that realistic to expect?

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In the latest Crash MotoGP Podcast, Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan isn’t convinced.

“I think everyone is expecting a repeat of last year, right? We’re hoping that we see Pecco vs Marc round two,” he began.

“That was a great, great grand prix we had last year. It was probably the first grand prix last year that we saw Marc properly competitive on that Ducati.

“I just don’t think we will see it unfortunately. Back then, we knew Marc was on a GP23 and the difference between the GP24 was ostensibly wasn’t that big.

“We’ve come to find out that the bike Marquez was on was not even remotely close to the GP24 - it was barely close to the GP23.

“So, that performance with that freshness to the bike on not the most competitive bike, to then expect a repeat when the two of them are on equal machinery after what we’ve seen this year - I hat to burst everyone’s bubble, but we’re going to have to see a massive switch from Pecco Bagnaia to see that.”

Marquez leads the championship by 17 points coming to Jerez, having won all four sprints so far and three of the first four grands prix.

Bagnaia is 26 points adrift in third having won the Americas GP following Marquez’s crash from the lead.

A key weakness for Bagnaia in 2025 has been his lack of speed in the sprints, which he has blamed on a recurring balance change in his bike caused by the smaller fuel tanks mandated for the half-distance races.

Crash MotoGP Podcast host and social media manager Jordan Moreland believes the success of Bagnaia’s weekend at Jerez will be measured by his result on Saturday.

“Bagnaia keeps saying about this issue with the fuel tank in the sprint, the way it changes the bike,” Moreland said.

“And he feels like he’s so weak on the front end of it, it doesn’t allow him to brake where he wants and have that feeling that he does in a grand prix.

“We saw last year that maybe these two races, Le Mans as well, the sprint races were real bad luck for him, I think it would be a good start to his weekend if he can get a podium in the sprint, just to be like ‘well the bike feels ok now’.

“There’s no doubt in the grand prix that he will be absolutely up for it, because he’s just better in grands prix. His track record shows that, he’s won the last three races at Jerez.”