When news first emerged that MotoGP’s newest rising star and 2025 rookie of the year and Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer had broken his femur while training alongside Marc Marquez at the Aspar circuit in Valencia, it sounded like the worst possible news for the 20-year-old ahead of an intense 2027 silly season.
But, with the way in which the market has shifted over the course of only a few days this week - and long before the 2026 season even gets underway - it may well be that Aldeguer’s injury hasn’t actually substantially changed his future prospects all that much.
It’s worth noting, first and foremost, that Aldeguer is in something of an unusual position compared to most of the 22-rider MotoGP grid, of whom only three (LCR Honda duo Johann Zarco and Diogo Moreira, and reigning World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu at Pramac Yamaha) have contracts for 2027 already.
Aldeguer stepped up from Moto2 in 2025 on an unprecedented four-year deal directly with Ducati Corse, which placed him at satellite squad Gresini Racing alongside Alex Marquez, a move that paid off in style as the duo clinched second in the teams’ championship standings behind only Ducati’s factory effort.
But it’s the exact details of that four-year deal that were likely to be altered by the opening races of 2026, had everything gone to plan for the youngster and he’d carried his late-2025 form into a strong start to his second year on the grid.
Not tied to a specific team, only to Ducati itself, he’d have likely been hoping to have shown enough in the opening rounds to be considered for a spot alongside Marc Marquez in red next year.
It already looks like that chance is good. Rumours have intensified in recent days that Ducati has moved early to replace Pecco Bagnaia, not with Aldeguer but with his biggest opponent on the grid; fellow Murcian rider Pedro Acosta, with whom there’s no love lost after a career spent racing against each other since they were kids.
That might not have been the case had Aldeguer had a strong start to the season, something now unlikely as he looks set to miss at least the first round in Thailand next month. But with Acosta’s perceived value in MotoGP (and an additional season under his belt at KTM), it may not have been enough either way, meaning that the broken femur might not in itself have significantly dented Aldeguer’s chances if Ducati had actually decided already that it couldn’t afford not to have Acosta on its books.
“The most important thing is my femur’s recovery, and it’s going well,” Aldeguer explained when he remotely joined Gresini’s 2026 presentation on Saturday.
“Day by day, I feel better, and always closer to arriving on the bike. I hope for that as soon as possible, but in this moment I can’t say one day or one race.
“For sure, I have some goals for when I want to arrive - I want to come to Brazil or maybe in Austin [rounds two and three in late March], but I have to wait for all the exams and how I feel with my leg.”
And, while there might not be a factory spot for him in 2027, there might be a silver lining not just for him but also for the Gresini squad.
Next season is set to be a crucial year amid MotoGP’s new rules and new tyres, and the more data the factories can gather, the better. Aldeguer and Gresini should be well-positioned to step up to a more substantial role within Ducati’s set-up.
Ducati is no stranger to running satellite teams almost as factory squads, most famously with the Pramac Racing team that took Jorge Martin to the world championship in 2024. After Pramac defected to Yamaha last year, neither of Ducati’s remaining satellites VR46 and Gresini really took over the status Pramac had in terms of being both a development conduit and additional Ducati frontrunner in its own right.
But, with Alex Marquez now on a factory contract the same as Aldeguer’s (at least for 2026 before a potential move away), Gresini’s Ducati status is strengthened. Staying put there could still be the next best thing to factory colours for Aldeguer’s prospects in 2027 and beyond.
