A year ago today, the main race of the Valencia Grand Prix hosted the final act of the fight between Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia. It was, in fact, necessary to wait until the very last moments of the 2023 season of MotoGP to discover the name of the new world champion.
While he conceded points to the Spaniard in the Sprint, the Ducati rider took advantage of Martín's fall in the final round of the season to claim his second world crown in the premier class.
The task was not easy. Only fourteen points separated him from his closest pursuer before the lights went out. During this race, Bagnaia had many rivals. His journey to victory was built by parrying the numerous attacks of his opponents. While taking advantage of a few falls, to be crowned with honors.
This trophy was a reward for an exceptional 2023 season. In 20 weekends of competition, the Ducati rider had won 6 main races, as well as 4 of the 19 Sprints (following the cancellation of the event in Australia). The Italian had also won 8 pole positions, and 14 podiums before being crowned on enemy soil.
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One year later, Jorge Martin's revenge
The two Ducati riders had already buried the competition at the time. They had mathematically established themselves as the only two contenders for the title from the Malaysian Grand Prix, as was the case in 2024. In total they had shared 10 top-3s on Saturday against 5 podiums on Sunday.
Already impressive figures, which nevertheless do not match the 2024 campaign that the two men achieved a few months later, riding the Desmosedici GP24. If this duel had already left its mark, the one that the two Borgo Panigale riders engaged in this year should remain even more anchored in the memories.
A year later, Pecco Bagnaia had the best season of his career. Not enough effort to repeat his title. Instead, Jorge Martin took his revenge for 2023 before saying goodbye to Ducati. The Spaniard is now off to start his new adventure with Aprilia.
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