Francesco Bagnaia’s is a proper MoꦓtoGP success story.&nb𒅌sp;

From wi꧋nning races on unfancied Mahindra machinery in Moto3, to Moto2 title success and carrying the weight of expectation that comes with the VR46 tag attached into MotoGP, Bagnaia has put in🔯 the hard yards.

In isolation, Bagnaia’s two world championships won’t be remembered in the same vein as any of mentor Valentino Rossi’s or Marc Marquez’s, for example. While it was impressive to overturn a 91-point deficit in 2022, he did so against a Fabio Quartararo who had a clear machinery disadvantage on tꦅhe Yamaha.

His fight for a second world title in 2023 against Jorge Martin was much more intense. But Martജin was new to the pressures of a MotoGP championship war and later in the season especially that began to show.

That is not to take away from Bagnaia’s achievements, though, as so many come to the hunting 🦩ground and come out sucking their thumb.🥀 Not only did Bagnaia achieve the ultimate dream, he did so while also helping mould the dominant Ducati era we now live in.

Ducati has fielded a lot of good riders since Bagnaia became a genuine championship prospect in 202🐻1. But none of them have been as good as him: two world titles, 29 grand prix wins, a half-c💙entury of podiums, 24 poles in 107 events for Ducati since making his debut in the class in 2019 with Pramac.

Bagnaia surpassed Stoner

He has surpassed Casey Stoner’s achievements for the Bologna manufacturer, but any ranking of MotoGP’s 𒁃best riders will almost certai🌟nly place the Australian double world champion higher. Arguably, Stoner was the more naturally talented rider and a longer career could have seen the Australian’s stats boosted significantly.

“He’s a very, very good champion. To win in a single year in MotoGP, not everyone can win, you need to have the talent, but then you ca🐎n have some doubts, that maybe he won because of blah. But when you win two years in a row, in the third year you are fighting again in the last race for the title, it means you are a very, very good champion. 

"I will try to learn from him because he knows very well the team, he knows the bike very well and this will bꦍe my t💙arget, and be close to him. But he will be the reference.”

Bagnaia’s strengths on track have alwꦕays been highly commended by his peers. And his spirited efforts to win both the sprint and the grand prix at the Barcelona finale to keep his hopes alive𓃲 as long as possible is testament to why.

'Commitment and professionalism'

But Bagnaia hasꦍ also embodied what it should mean to be a world champion in the way he has handled himself off track and spไoken on behalf of the championship.

Franco Morbidelli - who has had a more intimate insight into Bagnaia’s reign as a fellow VR46 Academy member - said: “He brought a very high level of commitment and professionalism that as our sport is going up and up and up, his dedication and his professionalism and his approach to motorcycle racing was something different. That’s one of his main qualities, his main things that made 💛him make the difference on everyone else in these last three seasons.”

A🦂nd it’s even more creditable because it’s something he has clearly worked on over the years. Across 2022, as Bagnaia was fighting for his first title, his drink/driving incident in Ibiza in the summer and his ill-thought out Dennis Rodman tribute helmet at the San Marino GP hung over hi🐼m somewhat even after the dust settled.

Everyone🦂 makes mistakes and is allowed to, so long as they learn from th🌠em. Bagnaia has done that immeasurably.

That was especially true in the immediate aftermath of the devastating Valencia flooding. While its importance paled in comparison to the horrifying✨ scenes emerging from Spain, the disaster came on the eve of the penultimate round of the championship and cast doubt over what would happen with the final event.

Both championship challengers handled the situation with grace, but itꦑ was one that would ultimately affect Bagnaia more. He acknowledged that the final round being totally 🦂scrapped could be unfair for him, but put full trust in whatever decision Dorna decided to make. What was clear for him was that the final round should not happen in Valencia.

On Friday at Sepang, he told the mཧedia he would not race in Valencia this year even if it cost him the chance to win the championship. Whether this had any impact on MotoGP ending up in Barcelona, it was clear from that point that the world champion had spoken and his words could not be ignored.

Booing saga a credit to Bagnaia

At other points t♈his year Bagnaia has taken a dignified stand. When future team-mate Marc Marquez was being booed on the San Marino GP podium, Bagnaia wagged his finger in disapproval towards the fans who were doing so. He would publicly call this type of behaviour disrespectful two weeks later at the Emilia Romagna GP.

Bagnaia has also bꦺeen caught in the crossfire between his friend and mentor Rossi taking potshots at Marquez. But he held his head high above ๊it, refusing to get involved in any way whenever asked about it.

And as a final show of his quality as a champion, when asked in parc ferme after losing the championship, Bagnaia said gracefully: “I doಌn’t want to remove the shine from Jorge. I think he deserves what he achieved and this day is for him. I just want to say thanks to my team for the incredible job, and all the rest is another story.”

There has been immense respect between Martin and Bagnaia this seas♈on, but much of that wouldn’t have been possible if the latter wasn’t the 202ꦉ4 champion’s rival.

The next two years will ultimately come to define Bagnaia’s MotoGP career as goes up against Marquez on equa𝐆l machinery at the factory Ducati team. He’s proven already he won’t be a pushover, though the form Marquez has shown on an aging GP23 this year will be cause for concern.

Butꦑ where Bagnaia stands at the end of 2026 should not detract from what he has already done in MotoGP.

In the fullness of time, he may not be remembered as the most popular. 𝕴But Bagnaia will always stand as a great world champion for MotoGP…