JAKARTA - Valentino Rossi, the Italian MotoGP living legend, hopes Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia and Jorge Martin can perform at their best this year so that Marc Marquez's dominance can collapse.
Marquez was dominant last year and won his seventh MotoGP world title when the race series still had five series left. Rossi also hopes that this year's races will be more competitive.
"Last year, there were some riders who performed below their potential: especially Pecco and also Martin, for example. We hope they are all in the best condition [this year]," said Rossi as quoted by Crash.
Bagnaia and Martin had a bad 2025 season for very different reasons. Bagnaia struggled to adapt to the Ducati GP25 so he failed to compete against the Marquez brothers.
The two-time world champion also lost to Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia and Pedro Acosta of KTM in the final standings of the world championship. Martin only raced eight times due to his injury.
In addition, Rossi's rider duo at the VR46 Racing Team, Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio, were also unable to provide resistance last season.
Rossi said that the 2026 MotoGP was a transition year to the new 850cc engine that will be used in 2027. So, he predicts Bagnaia and Martin can find their best performance.
"From a technical point of view, not much has changed. This is a transitional season. All manufacturers are already looking ahead to 2027 and are already working on new bikes," he said.
The 2026 MotoGP will start on February 27 at the Buriram International Circuit, Thailand. There are a total of 22 race series in this year's calendar, including Brazil's comeback as host.
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