Francesco Bagnaia celebrates 'fantastic' MotoGP triumph in Valencia, pays tribute to 'incredible' rival Jorge Martin

Francesco Bagnaia celebrated a “fantastic” achievement as he won his second consecutive world MotoGP championship in Valencia on Sunday afternoon.

He was the strong favourites already as he had a near-insurmountable lead over his nearest and only rival, Jorge Martin, before the race began.

Fittingly for a championship-winning race, the Italian won the race in Spain, while Martin crashed out and was unable to finish.

The Spaniard had hoped for a homecoming victory in his native country, but instead finished in second in the overall standings.

Speaking to TNT Sports after his triumph, Bagnaia celebrated the rare feat of consecutive title trophies.

He said: “It’s fantastic. We did it again after one year. Not many riders have done it, but I’m very happy.

“We even won the race. Even more is impossible. Fantastic job for my team.”

Looking ahead he suggested that he wanted his Ducati team to start to improve their performances in the sprint format, which tend to be held on the Saturday ahead of Sunday’s full-length events.

He added: “For next year we have to improve on Saturday, but right now we can just be very happy with what happened. Tonight we can enjoy and I can see my whole team enjoy it, and it was just fantastic.”

Martin and Bagnaia were once teammates at the Mahindra team, and Bagnaia took a moment to pay tribute to the runner-up.

“I think he did something incredible from Barcelona,” he added. “He demonstrated his performance and his strength. His explosiveness will be very tough next year, but I think I want to say congratulations to him, because finishing like this in the championship in the last race was very tough for both, but he deserves the same.”

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