On the trail of ‘The Doctor’: the first Italian champion after the legend Valentino Rossi in 2009, Francesco Bagnaiaremained this Sunday with the world crown for the first time in his career at MotoGPto sign Italy’s return to the top after ‘Pecco’ was penultimate last season.
A reserved driver, and even a bit ‘stubborn’ depending on the environment, when he is on the asphalt Bagnaia is still stubborn. After bowing to the French Fabio Quartararo in 2021, ‘Pecco’ took revenge to finally realize his dream of being world champion.
The Italian was also the protagonist of a spectacular comeback: with everything almost lost in mid-season, the Ducati rider stole 91 points from Quartararo, thanks to a series of consecutive victories that made his resurrection the longest in the premier class since introduction of the current points in 1993.
Last year he had already done a season from less to more, with his four victories in the last four Grands Prix. But this year he didn’t tremble at the decisive moment to take the title.
Incidentally, this Sunday on the Valencian track of Cheste he became the first Ducati rider to win the world title after Australian Casey Stoner in 2007.
‘Pecco’ now follows in the footsteps of his mentor Rossi: he was a student of the VR46 Academy, a group of pilots created by ‘The Doctor’.
Although in his opinion there is no room for comparison with the seven-time MotoGP world champion: “Valentino Rossi’s heir does not exist!”, he had condemned in an interview with the international agency AFP last September. “Everyone has to create their own story,” she noted.
Born in Turin on January 14, 1997, ‘Pecco’, which owes her nickname to her sister Carola, who as a child could not pronounce her brother’s name, immersed herself at an early age in the world of motorcycles in the hands of her father Pietro, a lover of two wheels.
“When I was little I used to go to the GPs with my father and my uncle and this led me to try a Minicross race when I was six,” he explained.
Like other riders of his generation, the Italian made it through the Spanish CEV championship, having won his first MiniGP title in 2009.
He then climbed the steps of Moto3 (2013-2016) and Moto2 (2017-2018), a category in which he would have proclaimed himself world champion for the first time in 2018, again in Sepang, for a wink of fate.
“‘Pecco’ believes a lot in himself (…) and when you have that mentality it’s hard to stop,” Pablo Nieto, director of the team with which Bagnaia won that title, told AFP.
It didn’t take long for the Spaniard to see in his currently much calmer rider the potential to reach the top: “In Moto3 he didn’t have the best bike yet he made several podiums. In his first season in Moto2 he was the best rookie of the season before becoming champion a year later.”he remembered.
On the strength of his title, the Turinese landed in the premier class of the Ducati-Pramac satellite team in 2019 before being promoted to the official team of the Italian brand in 2021.
Off the circuit, the world champion, a lover of cooking in his spare time, often shows up on social media surrounded by his family, and especially by his girlfriend Domizia.
Juventus fan in Turin, when he got off the bike when he was younger, he took the opportunity to go to play football, basketball or to perform on various ski slopes.
“I tried various sports with good results, except football, it was a disaster there”Bagnaia confessed.
“The bike, on the other hand, has never ceased to fascinate me. There was only one critical moment, during my adolescence; I started going out with friends, with girls, I had fun (…). My father he noticed it, he knew how to explain to me how important it is to respect one’s work “the pilot recalled.
“At the time it seemed like a game, but I realized that an election requires total commitment.” A sacrifice that brought him to the top.
Source: Clarin
