Aprilia's Massimo Rivola says the Aragon MotoGP could reveal which riders are genuine championship contenders.<\/p>\n
With 56 points covering the top six riders and ten rounds still to go, the final MotoGP title of the 1000cc era remains wide open.<\/p>\n
However, Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola believes the upcoming Aragon round could help identify the \u201creal\u201d contenders.<\/p>\n
RS-GP riders Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura currently fill the top three positions in the World Championship, followed by Ducati riders Marc Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio.<\/p>\n
Trackhouse Aprilia's Silverstone winner Raul Fernandez completes the top six.<\/p>\n
If the recent pattern continues, momentum could swing between Aprilia and Ducati depending on how well their respective machines suit each circuit.<\/p>\n
The reigning nine-time world champion was unstoppable at Balaton Park and the Sachsenring – anticlockwise, stop-and-go tracks that suit both his riding style and current right-shoulder limitations.<\/p>\n
Next weekend's Aragon round is at another \u2018Marquez circuit\u2019, where he\u2019s a seven-time grand prix winner and has been unbeaten in all four races on a Ducati, with Gresini in 2024 and the factory Lenovo team last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that Aragon is a Marc track,\u201d acknowledged Rivola.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still 370 points on the table, but Aragon can give us an idea of who will be the real title contenders for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aprilia struggled during the second half of both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, most notably in the non-European flyaway rounds.<\/p>\n
That trend was then spectacularly broken with victories for Bezzecchi and Fernandez late last year, albeit with Marquez out injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can say as a statistic that in the past we were bad in the second part and last year we were quite strong,\u201d Rivola said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that last year makes a better statistic [for the future] than the previous ones. We'll see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't really think that the first or second part changed really.<\/p>\n