Aldeguer, who had a very impressive rookie season with the Gresini Ducati team and picked up his maiden win at the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix, suffered a broken leg during pre-season training and is expected to be sidelined for at least the first few rounds of the 2026 season.

Fortunately, Ducati’s roster of talents is an extensive one, and they have opted to give Aldeguer’s bike to veteran test rider Michele Pirro.

While Pirro might not be competing at the front-end of the grid with some of the fiercer talents in the sport, his contribution could be extremely valuable to Gresini as they develop their 2026 bike and ensure it is in prime condition for Aldeguer’s return.

Pirro made a few appearances towards the tail end of 2025 when he replaced the injured Marc Marquez in the factory team.

Turkish supertalent and Yamaha rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu has given his assessment of pre-season testing, as well as offering an interesting insight into how he can find the limits of the bike.

The three-time WSBK champion has been one of the most exciting additions to the MotoGP grid in recent seasons, but it hasn't been the most positive pre-season for El Turco.

So far, the Pramac Yamaha signing has struggled to adapt to the vastly different tyre compounds in MotoGP, which he has admitted has been a real challenge.