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Two roosters in a henhouse can be a problem, but down in the Ducati one in 2024 there will be no hens. Instead, there’ll be 8 roosters, all aiming to be number 1 at the end of the season. It doesn't even make sense to talk about dream teams, because we will be dealing with an army, time will tell if it will be invincible. What is certain is that there will be a concentration of world titles that will make your head spin: 16 if you do a quick calculation, with only Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio never having won the world title, while Alex Marquez is the only one who has yet to win a race in MotoGP.
In short, there is no shortage of stars in the sky of Borgo Panigale, as are the risks that they collide in their trajectories. If Ducati placed three of its riders ahead of everyone this year, there is no reason why it can't do the same next year (rivals permitting) and logically only one will win.
Thus, the arrival of Marc Marquez in the 'family' has already been seen as a destabilizing element and Gigi Dall'Igna himself has repeatedly underlined that "we will have to be good at managing the situation". Of course, if Ducati's biggest problem is having too many fast riders, they can't complain too much, but at the same time they will have to watch out for friendly fire. Also because the first sparks have already been lit in recent weeks.
While the world championship fight between Bagnaia and Martin might have taken place in the name of fair play, there were other clashes. The battle between Marquez and Bezzecchi on the track in the last race in Valencia continued into the following hours, with the Italian rider sparing no harsh words towards the Spaniard, guilty of having knocked him to the ground. Marc chose wisdom to answer him, but who knows if the rust between the two will disappear during the winter.
The Italy versus Spain controversy then moved on to the confrontation between Martin and Bastianini, which had already flared up last year when it was the time to choose who would join the official team. Enea won, but Jorge wasn't happy about it. It was he himself who said that he had a pair of black leathers ready for the Valencia tests in case he received a last-minute promotion and he couldn’t hide his impatience when it didn’t come. “I no longer know what to do to convince Ducati” was the summary of his thoughts. Then, in the following days, Martin directly attacked Bastianini in the Spanish media: "I deserved the place in the official team, Enea won a race with irregular tyre pressures". As Jorge had also done in Thailand, it must be said.
Be that as it may, the climate has hotted up and Enea has assured that he will respond to his opponent on the track. The Christmas goodness doesn't seem to have touched all the riders and it couldn't be otherwise because - with Bagnaia's renewal virtually a sure thing - that second place in red is tempting for everyone. You can think about a change of scenery, but at the moment every rider's dream is the first Borgo Panigale team, there's no doubt about that.
So, even before we start to consider the World Championship, everyone will have to think about their future and it's not just Bastianini and Martini in contention. Marc Marquez cannot be excluded, but neither can Bezzecchi and - why not? - Morbidelli who wants to relaunch his career on the Bologna company’s motorbike.
Now that Ducati no longer seems to have any rivals on the track, it will have to keep its internal rivalry under control. A spark is enough to start a fire, so Dall'Igna and his men will also have to be excellent firefighters.
