It was seven years ago that I wrote a post on this site called “Ducati: Proudly destroying promising MotoGP careers since 2003.” And while Andrea Dovizioso’s career has not been destroyed, the rider has been pushed to the breaking point and has decided not to return to the team in 2021.
If you’ve never watched the excellent Red Bull film “Undaunted,” I highly recommend it. It’s 57 minutes and you can see it free at the Red Bull website. If you have the same reaction I did, once you see the film you’ll wonder how Dovi stuck with Ducati this long, considering the pressure applied on him, the doubting of him, the stress. All that despite the fact that Dovi finished second in the MotoGP championship the last three years, behind only the otherworldly talent of Marc Márquez. Nobody has produced better results on a Ducati MotoGP bike since Casey Stoner gave the Italian team its one championship in 2007.
I wrote that other post years ago when Ducati dumped Nicky Hayden from the factory team after five frustrating years. Hayden was just part of a long line of world champions who went to Ducati, only to find frustration: Loris Capirossi, Troy Bayliss, Carlos Checa, Marco Melandri, Hayden, and then finally, Valentino Rossi. Because Stoner’s unnatural ability overcame the Ducati’s drawbacks and won a title, the company was able to blame the rider, not the bike, through that entire string of world champions mostly going winless — right up until Rossi. Then there was no more blaming the rider, because if Valentino Rossi can’t win on your motorcycle, it’s not just the rider who’s the problem.
Since Casey Stoner well over a decade ago, nobody has had more success on a Ducati MotoGP bike than Andrea Dovizioso. But it has not been enough. Ducati Corse photo.
The Rossi fiasco seemed to force Ducati to set aside its stubborn ways. Gigi Dall’Igna was hired away from Aprilia to be Ducati Corse boss and he remade the entire program, finally bringing some changes to the motorcycle. That led to the current era of increased success. Dovizioso came in to replace Rossi, who fled back to Yamaha, and Dovi has won 13 races on the Desmosedici. But now, Dall’Igna seems to have been infected with some of the old Ducati attitude and he’s back to blaming the rider.
Does the rider or the machine win the race?
The answer, of course, is that it takes both, along with a brace of mechanics, engineers and, these days, some really smart software nerds. But when everyone else’s work is done, the only person with hands on the controls is the rider.
Not surprisingly, the man whose championship allowed Ducati to go down the “blame the rider because it can’t be the bike” path is thinking that Ducati has made a mistake. Here’s what Casey Stoner tweeted:
Just my opinion but I don’t believe @DucatiMotor can afford to loose someone like @AndreaDovizioso.
— Casey Stoner (@Official_CS27) August 15, 2020
I think they need to realise at some point that it’s the rider, not wind tunnels that get results, so listen to them…
Tomorrow, Dovi races on the Ducati at a track that has suited it in the past, the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and the site of his most thrilling victory over Márquez last year. How will he do the rest of this year? And more importantly, will any other rider be able to do better than he has on the Desmosedici?
I don’t have the confidence to bet on Ducati in the long run.
