MotoGP 2025 Ends in Valencia – And 2026 Begins

By Donovan Fourie | Guest Contributor | MotoGP Analyst

A Different Kind of New Year

People make a big mistake – most people all over the world do. They think the year ends on December 31, and the new year begins on January 1. Foolish!
The year ends when the chequered flag comes out at Valencia, signifying the end of the MotoGP season. With that, happy 2026, everyone!

The Nature of the Valencian Circuit

Let’s look back on the last bit of 2025. The Valencian circuit is one of the slowest on the calendar. The tight nature does not make overtaking easy, and therefore, scraps between riders are rare. What we mostly see is groups of riders mostly following each other around until eventually one rider finds a small gap, and we then see groups following each other around, but in a slightly different order.

Aprilia Dominates: Bezzecchi & Raul Fernandez

With that, Marco Bezzecchi put together a masterful performance, qualifying on pole and then leading from start to finish. Raul Fernandez continued his late-season form to ride up from fourth on the first lap to second, where he hunted down Bezzecchi until the chequered flag. The combination gave Aprilia a one-two finish and ended the Italian factory’s best season yet. If Ducati doesn’t make some steps with its 2026 bike, even Marc Marquez might be able to hold back the Aprilia wave.

Ducati’s Near Miss & a Saved Streak

Ducati nearly ended a streak of podium finishes that’s closing in on 90 consecutive races. Alex Marquez, after starting the race in second, began slipping down the order, being overtaken by Raul Fernandez on the Aprilia and then Pedro Acosta on the KTM. With two laps to go, Fabio Digi saved Ducati’s day by putting in a strong late race pace to claim third from Acosta.

This is the first year we have seen Ducati lose pace compared to its competitors. Sure, it won the title and the constructors’ trophy, but it failed to dominate. Last year, any rider not on a Ducati would be lucky to get within the top five, after the Bologna brand improved every year. At the end of this year, without Marc Marquez, it struggled for podiums.

That’s good news for MotoGP fans, however, as it throws a whole bunch of new hats into the potential winner’s circle.

The State of the Grid: Aprilia, Honda, KTM

While Aprilia is seemingly the best bike on the grid, Honda gets the prize for most improved. Last year, the brand occupied the last four spots on the result sheet. This year, it is jostling for podiums. Valencia wasn’t Honda’s best race, but it had Luca Marini waving the flag in seventh.

KTM is more or less where it was last year, snagging regular top tens. Although it has one ace up its sleeve – Pedro Acosta. The young Spaniard is now a podium regular, and the average gap to the next orange rider is around ten seconds. Sometimes more. If Acosta had the might of Aprilia or Ducati in form, even Marc Marquez might be in trouble.

Brad Binder’s Style vs Acosta: A Battle of Techniques

Brad Binder closed off a year he hoped would go better. The South African finished off Sunday with a statement about how Pedro Acosta rides compared to him. Binder has always been a sideways rider. He pulls the bike sideways on the brakes so that the rear starts taking more of the braking responsibilities, much like an ice skater skidding the blades sideways to stop. With this technique, he can brake very late, run hard into the corner, slow right down mid-corner and then accelerate hard out of it.

Acosta, in contrast, is lighter on the brakes; however, he then runs more speed mid-corner and is gentler on the throttle. The KTM prefers that manner of riding. The problem for Binder is that he’s spent his entire career as a late, hard braker. That’s his strength. That’s where he gets an edge over everyone else. Now, with the bike refusing to cooperate with his strength, at the age of 30, he has to reinvent his entire style.

It’s really not that easy.

Binder’s Future & a New Crew Chief

Binder has one more year in the factory KTM team before his contract expires. With youngsters in Moto2 and other teams continually knocking on KTM’s door, Binder will have to justify a renewed contract. The potential ace he has just drawn from the pack is a new crew chief.

After a decade of working with Andres Madrid, Binder has bid him a fond farewell and will now work with Phil Marron, the man who took Toprak Razgatlioglu to his WorldSBK titles. Marron will hopefully bring some fresh ideas into the pit. The pairing, on paper, should work well – the Northern Irishman literally speaks the same language as Binder, and Toprak’s style of late, hard braking is similar to Binder’s. Let’s see how that plays out.

Yamaha’s Big Shift & The Valencia Test

Toprak will make his public MotoGP debut during the Valencia test tomorrow (Tuesday), riding the Pramac Yamaha. The test will be a big deal for Yamaha because not only is it debuting the Turkish rider, but it has also announced that all four of its riders will be on the new V-four machine in 2026. Yamaha, famously, used only in-line four motors because that’s what it runs in its road bikes. The problem is tyres – Yamaha is the only constructor in the field running in-line motors, and Michelin (or Pirelli from 2027 onwards) works on a democratic basis with its developments. In that case, Yamaha constantly gets outvoted by the other four manufacturers, and thus, the tyres are better suited to the V layout.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

The test on Tuesday will give a glimpse into what the teams are planning, and we get to see how the WorldSBK wunderkind does against a pack of battle-hardened MotoGP riders.

Welcome to 2026