Francesco Bagnaia’s brilliance at Assen lauded by rivals

Francesco Bagnaia applied further pressure to MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin in Assen as he led every lap of the sprint and grand prix.

Bagnaia was untouchable in just about every session of the weekend, with the warm-up being the only session he didn’t finish fastest in.

10 points separates Bagnaia from Martin heading into this weekend’s German MotoGP at Sachsenring, however, his performance in Assen was about more than just the result.

Bagnaia has won five of the last six races including sprints, and like in 2022, Bagnaia is beginning to deliver his best form over a consistent period of time.

Impressed by Bagnaia's performance, Fabio Quartararo, who lost the 2022 title to Bagnaia after leading the Italian by 91 points at the mid-season stage, said: "He's impressive. What can you say? He's won the Sprint and race in the last two GPs.

“So of course he's really impressive. He's clearly the man to beat. And as soon as you start to win, you feel the confidence is high and you feel that you are unbeatable.

“So this is a feeling that all the riders want to get. And right now he has it. So he will be up there for a long time."

Marc Marquez is one of the riders that has consistently been able to pose a threat to Bagnaia so far in 2024, however, the eight-time world champion had no answer for his future team-mate’s pace.

That said, Marquez is not giving up hope of fighting Bagnaia and Martin despite the GP24 clearly having the edge.

“Bagnaia was super fast, but Jorge also was extremely fast,” said Marquez. “Since Montmelo, they are riding super fast.

“Let’s see if we can be closer, it will be difficult, but my target is to always fight for those top three positions.”