From one Spanish MotoGP winner to another, an Aprilia Racing bike will have a new rider for 2025, and it may be the reigning champion.
Aleix Espargaro will retire after this weekend’s season finale in Barcelona, following 15 seasons in the series.
He leaves behind an Aprilia Racing team with whom he has been with for seven years and achieved all three of his victories.
His replacement is one of the hottest properties on the grid currently, who will be waving goodbye to the most dominant bike in MotoGP to take his ride.
Aleix Espargaro says giving Jorge Martin his bike is a ‘dream’
It looks almost nailed on that Jorge Martin will finally be a MotoGP champion after this weekend’s running in Spain.
His 24-point advantage means that title rival Francesco Bagnaia needs a miracle to claim his third crown in the sport.
Speaking to Crash.net, the retiring Espargaro was pleased to be handing his bike over to a man with a very able skillset.
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“It gives me enormous pleasure,” Espargaro told Motosprint. “It also scares me because it won’t be easy after so long in Ducati, with a winning bike, to arrive at Aprilia with a totally different concept.
“It won’t be easy, but he’s my best friend and leaving my bike with him is a dream.”
What can Bagnaia do to disrupt Martin during his Ducati farewell?
This weekend’s finale is twice as significant for Martin, considering that it’s his farewell race for Ducati as well as the one in which he hopes to become a champion.
The only way that Bagnaia can disrupt his camp, would be to win and hope for him to suffer a disaster at some stage.
Whether that’s a mechanical retirement or a physical error from him – it’s entirely possible in the middle of a cold November at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
It’s renowned for being mistake-inducing at the best of times, so with the pressure of a nation on his back and a championship awaiting, there will be lots of caution thrown into the wind.
It would be a significant victory for Spain, just weeks on from suffering devastating flooding – which forced the finale to be moved from Valencia in the first place.