Mugello Magic: MotoGP at its Finest

`If you're watching MotoGP in 2025, a Marc Marquez victory is nothing new to you. The #93 has been almost unbeatable this season taking all but 1 Sprint victory and all but 4 Grand Prix victories, only suffering two on-track defeats, and let's be honest, at Silverstone he was lucky to still be in the race. He's been joined all season by younger brother Alex, who holds the other Sprint victory this year. But one thing we have been missing is a three-way fight for the lead between the season heavyweights.

Well, that is exactly what Mugello gave us in the opening laps as Pecco Bagnaia seemed to be back on form in both the Grand Prix and the Sprint. The double-world champion lead the way in the Sprint after a poor start for Marquez, and managed to hold on for a while as he battled with Alex and Marc, until eventually the natural order resumed and Marc took the victory ahead of Alex and Pecco. But this gave us a taster of what was to come in the Grand Prix.

Bolstered by his Sprint pace, Pecco got off to a great start and took the fight to Marc on the opening lap, the two trading places lap after lap. On lap 3, the two collided as Pecco ran into the back of Marc's rear tyre and broke a few of those lovely aero pieces on the front of his GP25. The contact allowed Alex Marquez through, and battle resumed. Alex and Pecco battled into turn 1 a lap later, with the extra speed allowing the Italian to take the fight to his teammate into turn 2. The pair then came barreling into turn 1 a lap later, both brake as late as they dare and running deep, keeping Alex in the fight. The result was Alex snatching the lead and pulling a gap on the factory duo.

By lap 7, Marc was ready to launch another attack on his teammate, pouncing on Bagnaia and getting up to second place. It took the championship leader 2 laps to reel in his brother before making a move for the lead. He pulled it off, and from there stretched his legs a little, pulled a gap, and kept his head clean. The Marquez brothers held station, but things didn't go quite so well for Bagnaia. Late in the race, the Italian seemed to be struggling for pace, perhaps taking too much life out of those tyres too early in the Grand Prix. He was under threat from Di Giannantonio who pulled off an incredible around the outside of Casanova (turn 6) and down the inside of Savelli (turn 7). If you're not aware of the circuit, this is a high-speed downhill section of the track that is not usually an overtaking spot. Digia was on a charge, but too late to make it to Alex ahead, Bagnaia's streak at Mugello ended with a disappointing fourth.

But, it's not all doom and gloom. This is the first time, really, this season that Pecco has seemed to have the pace and comfort on the bike to take the fight to the Marquez brothers. He hasn't quite got the race-pace to keep with them throughout the Grand Prix, but it is a good sign. Many are calling it the final straw in his 2025 title challenge, but I think this could be a turning point if he plays it right. Only time will tell, but it is looking on the up for Bagnaia.

Given the start to their season, you could be forgiven for assuming KTM were having a bad season. But since their takeover from Baja earlier in the year, the results seem to be trending in the right way. On our podcast we recently discussed Acosta and Vinales securing 4th and 5th at Le Mans, Acosta 6th at Silverstone, and again 4th at Aragon, with both Binder and Vinales showing good pace until their incidents.

This week, in the sprint, both of the factory KTMs suffered a DNF, but Vinales was again flying the flag for Tech3 in fourth and Bastianini could only manage 11th. But the pace was there, and Vinales was scrapping with the Ducatis throughout the Sprint. In the race, Vinales was up in fifth, scrapping with Morbidelli until the Italian launched it up the inside into turn 2 and pushed Vinales off the track. The Spaniard would retire from possibly his best shot at a podium since Qatar. However, that wasn't going to stop the factory boys giving us a good show.

Acosta and Binder looked to have the pace of the Ducatis for most of the race, only falling off the back of them in the latter stages. But keeping up with the Aprilia of Fernandez and the VR46 Ducati of Morbidelli (even after his double-long lap penalty) shouldn't be underplayed. Binder, in particular, hasn't had much race time this season with a host of issues seeing the South African DNF early. The two scrapped all the way to the end, finishing just 18 seconds behind Marquez and 2 seconds behind the nearest Ducati.

While we're talking about resurgences, it would be remiss of me not to mention Aprilia. They've had quite a lot of off-track noise lately amidst decisions from the absent reigning champion Jorge Martin. But Bezzecchi has had immense race pace lately and has only been down the order due to some poor qualifying; and Ai Ogura was hugely impressive in the early part of the season. This weekend, however, 3 Aprilias finished in the points, with Bez taking fifth place behind the leading Ducatis, Fernandez taking the best-of-the-rest honours in seventh, and Ogura taking tenth place. A huge haul of points for the Trackhouse team there. Given the recent news about Martin, it's looking good that the Italian manufacturer might be able to hang on to their reigning champion.

Marc Marquez, the 32-year old Spaniard, is probably best known for his time at Repsol Honda in the premier class. The iconic ant-liveried helmet and the black, orange, and white Honda is an image that is almost as iconic as Rossi and his blue and yellow Yamaha. In the premier class (MotoGP as it is now), Marc has amassed 203 entries, 198 starts, and taken 67 victories; he sits third in the all-time list behind Rossi and Agostini, one more and he takes second by the way.

To truly understand the brilliance of this generational talent, we have to go back to his first victory in his second year of 125 cc racing in 2010, where he took 10 victories and won his first title. This was a move that promoted him to Moto2, where he managed 7 further victories and 2nd place in the title in his rookie year, a feat he bettered in 2012 with 9 victories and the title.

His arrival into the top class and immediate competitiveness against Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi should not be understated. As a rookie in 2013, he won his first race in only his second Grand Prix to become the youngest ever race winner at 20 years and 63 days old, comparable really with Max Verstappen. He took 6 victories and a further 10 podiums, never finishing off the rostrum all season. The result? A world title in his rookie season, with Rossi and Lorenzo, two giants of the sport, as competition.

The performance increased in 2014, taking 13 victories and 1 further podium to secure back-to-back titles. He would repeat this in 2016 with 5 victories and 7 further podiums, to start a four-championship streak before injury struck in 2020. We have already discussed on the podcast about the Verstappen/Marquez effect, and 2021 saw the downward spiral of Honda. Inevitably, as most top athletes do, Marquez found his way in at Ducati in 2024, taking 3 wins and 7 non-victory podiums. Now, in 2025, at the factory Ducati, he is leading the title with 5 victories and 2 further podiums, securing 8 of the 9 Sprint wins along the way.

Do you think Marc Marquez is the greatest of all time? Can anyone stop him this year? Let us know in the comments.