VIDEO: Hayden gets to grips with Ducati GP9

See the footage of Hayden's first ride on the fearsome Desmosedici racer

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".