MotoGP and Superbike, nothing is really missing! Just before the holiday season we caught up with Alberto Vergani, with whom we shared a long chat about the two categories.
We talked about the season recently concluded and the expectations surrounding the upcoming one.
The manager from Milan certainly did not evade our questions, analyzing everything as always with great candor and lucidity.
He began with MotoGP with the spotlight on Marc Marquez in Red alongside Bagnaia *.
"I have always recognized the value of a rider like Marquez and I do not hide that fact - he said - you cannot fail to appreciate Marc for what he has done over the years.
He is a rider who won with his arm attached crookedly on a bike where others struggled to make fourth to last and third to last.
So he left Honda and look what he did in the Gresini team, where everybody became attached to him and the team grew because of his input as well.
Obviously he was an aggressive rider, but that's in the nature of super champions."
You told us in June, "Dall'Igna would never let someone like Marc.... get away."
"Sure and I'll add one thing.... On the eve of the Valencia test Gigi said one thing: "Marc did some inexplicable things with the GP23."
What does this mean? Very simple: Dall'Igna knows his bikes well, I emphasize the term his, because the Desmosedici is the child of his ideas.
This is precisely why Gigi knows the performance of the Ducati perfectly, better than anyone else, and as a result he x-rayed Marc and opted for him."
What do you expect from the Marquez-Bagnaia pairing?
"Bagnaia is a champion and with Marc on the team it will be an awesome team. I wouldn't want to be in the other riders or teams."
How will they manage the equilibrium? Do you think it can be a problem or an opportunity?
"It seems to me that this year Marc has not done any battling. He has been respectful, he has been humble, going so far as to enjoy fourth places.
Everyone fears internal team management, but I don't think it will be a problem, partly because they are different parables.
For sure there will not be a number 1, because both are number 1s: Bagnaia knows the bike perfectly while Marc, from a sporting point of view, has something more?"
What do you expect instead from Aprilia with new entry Martin?
"For sure he will do a great job and the whole team needed this renewal. In addition, there will be the important contribution of Sterlacchini, who has worked before in Ducati and KTM, thus enjoying a broader view of the situation."
How do you rate Rivola's work?
"Rivola did an excellent job because he had acumen and speed of reaction. He has been able to make blitzes that are a credit to him.
I think Aprilia wants to close the gap from the competition in the short term, and there is a major effort.
In fact, I see confidence placed in Savadori, who has just come off the back of his contract renewal as a test rider, among other things.
Lorenzo has done important development work and in Aprilia they are aware that they are following the right path."
Going back to Marquez, do you think Gigi always hoped to bring him to Ducati?
"No, because in 2017 he took Lorenzo and not him. Ducati tried anyway in 2016, but they were not convinced.
However, Gigi remains the absolute number 1 all-around, in fact he is Ducati's fortune.
When Marc offered himself to Ducati last year, he couldn't say no, because in the end Dall'Igna lives off his satisfactions, like a true genius does.
In the end Gigi and Marc are two geniuses who found each other. Obviously it was not easy to leave Martin go to Aprilia."
* in the coming days the second part of the interview, where we will talk about Superbike
