Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati will part ways at the end of the 2026 MotoGP season
The worst-kept secret in MotoGP is finally official, with Francesco Bagnaia leaving Ducati at the end of 2026 and the door now appearing open for Pedro Acosta's expected move to the factory team.
The news hardly comes as a surprise, but Ducati has finally confirmed that Francesco Bagnaia will leave the factory team at the end of the 2026 MotoGP season.
The double world champion's departure has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the paddock, with speculation over his future gathering pace throughout a difficult campaign alongside Marc Marquez. Now the Italian manufacturer has made it official, announcing that Bagnaia and Ducati will go their separate ways after the final round of the season in Valencia.
The move brings the curtain down on one of the most successful partnerships in Ducati's MotoGP history. Since joining the Bologna marque in the premier class in 2019, Bagnaia has delivered two world titles, 31 race wins, 63 podiums and 28 pole positions, becoming the most successful rider ever to race a Desmosedici.
More significantly, today's announcement appears to clear the final hurdle for Pedro Acosta's expected move to the factory Ducati squad in 2027.
Acosta has been repeatedly linked with a switch away from KTM as the Austrian manufacturer's future in MotoGP remains uncertain, and the Spaniard has long been viewed as Ducati's preferred option should a seat become available alongside Marc Marquez.
While Ducati has yet to formally announce Bagnaia's replacement, confirmation that the Italian will leave at the end of the year makes Acosta's promotion look increasingly inevitable.
With both Bagnaia's exit and Acosta's arrival having been widely anticipated, today's statement feels less like a shock announcement and more like the first official confirmation of a rider-market move that many in the paddock believed had already been decided.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
