Giacomo Agostini ventures a prediction on the 2015 MotoGP season. The big surprise could come from the Valentino Rossi Academy.
It was a MotoGP season to remember for Ducati and Pecco Bagnaia, capable of winning a World Championship in the premier class with an all-Italian bike-rider combination. The last to succeed was James Augustine with MV Agusta, the 15 times world champion, the most successful ever in the history of motorsport. As always happens in a two-wheel championship, much of the credit goes to the rider, who grew up in Valentino Rossi’s school: the VR46 Riders Academy in Tavullia.
Giacomo Agostini, in an interview with ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, underlines the differences in character with the new champion MotoGP: “Bagnaia is someone I like, he’s a bit between Valentino and me: Rossi is a showman, Pecco is a quiet guy, I was something in between. We are a nice trio, with our differences but the same passion“. Next season he will start as the favourite, but he hasn’t yet released the reserve on the number he will apply on the livery of his Ducati Desmosedici: “I would put it, because today is number 1. Will an opportunity like this happen again?“.
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Pecco Bagnaia the driver to beat, Aeneas Bastianini new teammate and first rival. “For me it’s the strongest couple, having two roosters is always complicated“, added Giacomo Agostini. “For Pecco the goal is an encore, for Enea it is to win, he has already proved it“. But we will also have to deal with the evergreen Marc Marquezwho comes out of a three-year tunnel that began after the terrible injury at Jerez in 2020. Since then he has undergone four operations, faced two cases of diplopia, followed a long rehabilitation plan.
For the 2023 season he should be in top condition: “If before out of ten races he won seven, now maybe he wins five. If Honda doesn’t give him a competitive bike – explained the 15-time world champion -, after falling out of love, you change your ways“. The next one will be a decisive season for the Cervera phenomenon, in view of the last year of his contract expiring in 2024. At the end of which he will have to decide whether to promise eternal love to the Golden Wing House or change builder.
But who will be the surprise in the next MotoGP season? Giacomo Agostini does not seem to have any doubts: Marco Bezzecchi. The pilot of Mooney VR46 Racing Team he won the title of best rookie MotoGP 2022, he collected a pole position and a podium. Among other things, with a less up-to-date Ducati than many of his brand colleagues. “With the experience gained he will be more mature, he will know the bike better and Ducati will help him“.
