Superbike star Nicolò Bulega (Ducati): The champagne can be put on ice

Pole position and three wins, plus the fastest race laps as well as pole and lap records. One has to resort to superlatives to describe Nicolò Bulega’s performance at the Superbike meeting at Magny-Cours. If one had to find a weakness, it would probably only be that the first race and the sprint were narrow start-to-finish victories – Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Iker Lecuona briefly took the lead in the early stages of the race.

But that can’t really be considered a flaw. Even if it were, the commanding World Championship leader put that right in the second race. Right from the first corner, Bulega set such a blistering pace that he left even Lecuona trailing in his wake.

“Iker always stepped it up a notch, so I had to do the same,” said Bulega after his 26th win of the season. “When he overtook me and I was stuck in traffic for a bit, I really enjoyed the battles. But when I felt I had a bit more in the tank, I stuck to my own pace. In the morning, I managed a 1:34.7 on the SCX tyre, which is really fast. Even in the afternoon, when the track was hotter, my pace was excellent. In the Superpole race, I realised that Iker was giving it his all on the first lap to stop me, so I went all out straight away – and it worked.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Magny-Cours

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Nicolò Bulega

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Axel Bassani

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Boxengasse

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Garrett Gerloff

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Fans

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Xavier Vierge

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Sam Lowes

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Iker Lecuona

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Álvaro Bautista

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Start des Rennens

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Lorenzo Baldassarri

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Axel Bassani

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Sam Lowes

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Nicolò Bulega

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Iker Lecuona

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Yari Montella

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Nicolò Bulega gewinnt beide Läufe in Frankreich

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Bulega und Lecuona

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Podium Lauf 1 - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega, Sam Lowes

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Podium Lauf 2 - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega, Yari Montella

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Sieger Nicolò Bulega

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Magny-Cours

© Gold & Goose

Bulega can already put the champagne on ice for winning the 2026 Superbike World Championship, as he needs just 22 points in Cremona to be out of reach. “I’m delighted that I’ll be heading to Cremona in good form in three weeks’ time. Hopefully I’ll win the title there – it’s my home race and Ducati’s too. As an Italian racing in Italy, that would be fantastic,” emphasised the Ducati rider.