Pecco Bagnaia: “I’m not the sort of person who says things like that on camera”

Ducati-Lenovo rider Pecco Bagnaia had little time to take a holiday during the MotoGP summer break. Immediately after the Sachsenring weekend, on 15 July, he had to undergo a scheduled operation on his right forearm. His focus was therefore on recovering from the procedure as quickly as possible.

The fact that the two-time MotoGP World Champion was suffering from so-called compartment syndrome (arm pump) came as a surprise to many. “I’m not the sort of person who talks about things like that on camera,” Bagnaia said with a smile. “I’ve never had any problems with my arms in my career. But this year I’ve had a few difficulties on the bike, which is why it became necessary.” At what point did he realise that surgery was unavoidable? “The problems started in Jerez. We couldn’t find a solution for it and it just kept getting worse.”

Bagnaia had never had problems with ‘arm pump’ before – only this year. “It’s to do with the bike,” said the 29-year-old cautiously, without going into further detail.

Intensive training after the operation

Due to the operation, the Ducati rider was unable to spend the nearly four-week break as he would have liked. “It wasn’t an easy summer break. I had to work a lot on my arm. I only had four days’ rest, and the training afterwards was very intensive. But I think we’ve worked well and we’re almost ready,” said the Italian on Thursday, ahead of the race weekend at the Silverstone Circuit, providing an update on his physical condition. “We’ll have to see how it goes. It’s a tricky circuit, but at the same time one of my favourites. I know how important the right set-up is here. Rear-wheel grip is the biggest problem this season. We need to work on that and hope that Ducati has found a solution over the summer break to improve my situation.”

At Silverstone, there have been eleven different winners in the last eleven Grands Prix – Bagnaia won the Sunday race in 2022. Why is there no dominant rider on this long and fast circuit? “That’s a good question. But from what I know from the past – when I won, I wasn’t the fastest. I bided my time. On this circuit, biding your time is a good strategy because you then have less tyre wear and can take advantage of the slipstream from the riders in front of you. You have to maintain your speed and follow the riders in front of you,” mused Bagnaia. “In 2024 I was very strong; I led for half the race. Then Jorge overtook me; he was in the lead for eight laps – but then Enea (Bastianini) won. He’d been behind us for the entire race. In 2022, when I won, I was in fourth or fifth place for the whole race. Then I managed to work my way up lap by lap and overtook Rins. But I didn’t want to pull away then; I wanted to stay calm. Tyre wear makes a big difference here. You have to be patient.”

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07.08.2026 - 10:55

Bagnaia: “I stopped after two laps”

During the summer break, Bagnaia took part in training sessions at Misano with his colleagues from the VR46 Academy. He was riding the Ducati Panigale there. “I had two sessions. In the first one, I wasn’t able to ride – I stopped after two laps,” reported the Italian. “In the second one, I did 30 laps and it was a bit better. That was ten days ago. I hope it’s even better now. Riding a MotoGP bike is completely different to a Panigale. But I have to say that the Panigale is harder to handle under braking because you need more strength. I might have to take some painkillers here at the start.”

World Championship title not on the cards at the moment

Bagnaia is currently eighth in the overall standings. He is ‘only’ 65 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia), so he still has a good chance of winning the title. “At the moment, I’m not thinking about winning the title,” he said, waving the idea aside. “I still don’t have the speed, and I’m still lacking that right feeling. I’m taking it race by race and trying to improve my situation. The chance of a top-five finish is there – that’s the goal for now. If I can improve and fight for the podium every race weekend, then yes.”