Ducati: Tardozzi dismisses Marquez bike claims
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 13, 2026
Tardozzi dismisses claims
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi pushed back hard on the idea that the team built its MotoGP bike around Marc Marquez. He rejected the claim that Ducati developed the machine specifically for Marquez or that the rider drove the direction of the team’s 2026 bike, calling the talk “idle gossip.” His message was plain. Ducati has not built one machine for one rider, and the team does its work rider by rider.
That stance cuts straight at a narrative that has followed Ducati through the season. Marquez’s results have fed the idea that the factory may have shifted its focus toward him. Tardozzi said that is not how Ducati operates. He said the team develops the bike rider by rider, with each rider feeding back on what he needs. That approach keeps the conversation centered on the wider garage rather than one name on the fairing.
Tardozzi also linked his comments to the way Ducati handles its internal work. He said different components are being used by Ducati factory riders, a detail that reinforces his point that the team is not locking itself into one setup for one rider. Tardozzi’s message was direct. Ducati, he said, is making decisions across the lineup, not building around a single star.
Ducati spreads bike choices
The clearest example of that split came with Francesco Bagnaia. Tardozzi said Bagnaia has used a separate fairing and swingarm or aerodynamic setup, a sign that Ducati continues to tailor its package to the rider, not the other way around. That matters because Bagnaia’s struggles have helped fuel the speculation around Marquez. As Bagnaia has searched for answers, the rumor mill has only grown louder.
Tardozzi answered that pressure by pointing to the rest of the garage. Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, he said, have been able to choose their own components and have input on the bike. That detail matters as much as any other part of the story. It shows Ducati as a team in which riders still have a say, and where development is spread across multiple voices instead of being narrowed to one. The picture Tardozzi drew was of a factory balancing different preferences and different needs.
He also rejected the idea of team orders at Ducati. Tardozzi said the team has never used them. That is a firm denial of any suggestion that Ducati would direct one rider to play support for another or shape its racing decisions around a hierarchy on the track. In Tardozzi’s telling, Ducati remains a racing operation first, with the riders competing on merit and the bike evolving from the feedback each one provides.
Tardozzi went a step further and said sport must come before business at Ducati. That line adds another layer to his response. It frames the factory’s choices as racing decisions rather than commercial ones, and it shuts down the idea that business interests are steering bike development in Marquez’s favor. For Ducati, the point is clear. The factory wants performance, input and balance across the board, not a build centered on a single figure.
Marquez stays in title race
Tardozzi still backed Marc Marquez as a rider who can win the title. That support came even as the speculation around his influence continued to swirl. Marquez is the only Ducati rider with multiple wins this season, and he sits two points behind championship leader Jorge Martin. Those numbers keep him right in the title fight and explain why his role has drawn so much attention.
That position has turned Marquez into a central figure in the Ducati conversation. His results make him an important reference point for the factory this season, even as Tardozzi insists the bike was not built for him. The contrast is sharp. Marquez has delivered the strongest winning return among Ducati’s riders, but Ducati’s leadership says that success has not changed the way the team develops its machine.
The debate also shows how quickly performance can shape perception in MotoGP. When a rider wins more often than his stablemates, questions follow. Tardozzi’s response was to strip those questions back to the team’s own process. He said Ducati works with multiple riders, multiple parts and multiple viewpoints. He also made clear that Marquez remains a threat in the championship chase, which keeps the spotlight on both his results and the wider Ducati setup.
For now, the factory line from Tardozzi is simple. Ducati does not build for one rider, does not use team orders and does not put business ahead of sport. Marquez remains a contender. Bagnaia remains part of the development picture. And Ducati, in Tardozzi’s words, keeps moving forward rider by rider.
