Why Ducati is losing its best MotoGP rider of 2026

Ducati is expected to lose its highest-scoring MotoGP rider this season so far going into next year, with Fabio Di Giannantonio having reportedly committed to KTM.

With Sky Sports Italia and Motorsport.com both reporting the deal, it means Di Giannantonio is set to partner Alex Marquez - another current Ducati satellite rider - in the factory KTM team in 2027.

This move would have significant repercussions for several other active MotoGP riders, and even for the World Superbike grid, with Ducati's WSBK dominator Nicolo Bulega now the prime contender to take over the VR46 ride Di Giannantonio will vacate.

But it also represents the latest instance of Ducati letting - or having to let - a high-performing rider walk away from its stable, despite it having been able to consistently offer competitive machinery.

Rider exits are, to be fair, a necessary byproduct of having more bikes than anyone else and having those bikes perform well, making the riders on them more attractive on the market.

And Ducati had largely weathered its 'talent drain' until this year, when it finally appears to have caught up with it.

Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin, two riders Ducati had to let go because it couldn't offer them factory seats, are clear out front in the points standings - and amid Marc Marquez's ongoing injury woes, Ducati clearly just does not have the rider right now to take that Aprilia duo on weekend after weekend.

Di Giannantonio, though he's had his ups and downs, has come closest - and has welcomed his outside title aspirations, in what now appears to be his Ducati swansong.

It was thought for a while that Di Giannantonio and manager Diego Tavano prioritised a Ducati stay, and the VR46 side sounded vaguely optimistic about keeping Di Giannantonio.

But this, ultimately, seems to have come crashing down against KTM's greater desperation to shore up its factory team line-up. There were questions, too, about the size of commitment Ducati would be willing to make to Di Giannantonio - who made it clear on Thursday at Le Mans, seemingly right before the decision was taken, that the continuation of his status as a factory-contracted rider was non-negotiable for him.

"I'm a factory Ducati rider, I think I'm doing a good job. I think I deserve and I try to keep this kind of level for my future," said Di Giannantonio, third in the MotoGP riders' standings.

"I think it's also...you need this kind of treatment if you want to try to win the championship, races. Without it, I think it can be a step back on my career. So at the moment, for sure, Diego is trying to give me the best options - that is, with a factory contract."

Nobody wants to be an afterthought, and certainly nobody wants to be 'demoted'. Ducati has come up against this issue multiple times; since the big-money Jorge Lorenzo contract and all that entailed it has never had the reputation of being a lavish spender on rider contracts. Nor has it been at all desperate for continuity. Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Pecco Bagnaia and Martin - the latter two champions for Ducati - were all riders that Ducati looked at and felt it doesn't need to keep at all costs.

Di Giannantonio - whose agent reportedly set Ducati an offer deadline that the manufacturer did not meet - is about to be added to the list. And...that's probably fine.

The VR46 rider, despite his recurring start problems and slight tendency to get roughed up in the early laps by more aggressive rivals, has a strong claim for being one of the five best riders in MotoGP this season. But starting a team from scratch you would not take him over the other early-2026 standouts - not over the Aprilia duo, not over Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo.

Not over Pedro Acosta, either, widely understood to have a Ducati works deal in his pocket. And certainly not over Marc Marquez, whose recent discovery of a recurring radial nerve problem and surgery to address it means Ducati might be just a couple of months away from getting the best rider on the grid back.

Fermin Aldeguer still looks injury-limited, as Ducati's third factory-contracted rider for 2027. But he has plenty of time to come good, and - assuming Marquez's recovery proceeds as suggested by this recent injury discovery - the Acosta-Marquez line-up is a 'Death Star'.

Di Giannantonio is only a necessity if both Marquez - particularly Marquez - and Aldeguer cannot get right. As good as he has been in 2026, he would've been a 'bonus' otherwise.

That is probably why he's leaving. And it's why Ducati should go 'oh, well' and move on to its Plan B.