VIDEO: Hayden gets to grips with Ducati GP9

Hayden's first ride on the Desmosedici

NICKY HAYDEN took his first ride on Ducati's 2009 MotoGP bike earlier this week - and here's the video of the former World Champion out on his maiden blast at Valencia.

After the ride Hayden said: "It has been a very intense day and full of many things to test and to understand, but it was exactly as I expected it to be. I did just one run with the GP8 and then I switched completely to the GP9. Obviously there is a lot of work to do but I am happy, it was a good day that has allowed me to understand that the bike has good potential and, more than anything, I can say that I really enjoyed myself.

"This first day has given me an appreciation of the bike and the team. One of the things that really impressed me the most was the acceleration. I found myself pretty comfortable on the bike, and I really didn't make a lot of changes to levers and handlebars. We have not even changed a lot the settings, we have just made some small changes, some mapping settings, a couple of tyres, in order to try and understand the direction of the bike and to feel comfortable on it".