War of words: Davide Tardozzi refuses to buy Francesco Bagnaia’s take on the Le Mans incident

Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has pushed back against Francesco Bagnaia’s claim that brake issues caused his crash in the 2026 French Grand Prix.

Bagnaia’s tough run of form continued last Sunday at Le Mans, where he crashed out from P2 in the French GP.

The two-time MotoGP champion went down at Turn 3 on Lap 16 of 27 while under pressure from KTM’s Pedro Acosta.

It was already his third retirement this season after just five rounds, and his ninth in the past 12 races. So far this year, Bagnaia’s only finishes are a P9 in Thailand and a P10 in the United States.

Davide Tardozzi says there was no brake problem for Francesco Bagnaia during his crash at Le Mans

According to Marco Melandri, Bagnaia’s Ducati showed signs that he was about to lose the front end before he crashed during the left-hand section of the Dunlop Chicane. The incident took away what could have been a podium finish for him.

After the French GP, Bagnaia suggested that his crash was caused by the same front brake issue that led to his retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix. But Tardozzi believes it was down to rider error.

Tardozzi told Sky Sports Italy: “I can’t say anything, but there was a problem – it wasn’t a technical issue. All I can say is that it wasn’t a technical issue.

“I think something must have thrown him off, which is why he, unfortunately, made a mistake. But I don’t think we can blame it on a technical issue.”

Francesco Bagnaia’s brake issue claim after the French GP

Bagnaia was careful with his words when discussing the brake problem that had affected him at Jerez and again at Le Mans. He felt certain it was a technical issue with the Ducati GP26, not rider error as Tardozzi suggested.

The 31-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner went into a little more detail when the issue forced him to retire from P9 in the Spanish GP. He had lacked the speed that the other GP26 riders still running displayed, as Alex Marquez won at Jerez and Fabio Di Giannantonio secured P3.

“A little [problem],” Bagnaia told TNT Sports after the Spanish GP. “The team are working on it to understand the situation, but something that unluckily can happen.

“I started the race a bit uncomfortable, but I was able to remain quite competitive. But lap-by-lap I was getting worse and worse, and I just needed to stop… It was just very difficult to reduce the speed.”

Bagnaia led Ducati’s charge before his crash at Le Mans last Sunday, while VR46’s Di Giannantonio finished again as top Ducati in fourth place. While he didn’t mention specific issues after Le Mans, he did say it felt similar to what happened at Jerez.

“The crash was the result of a problem,” he said via GPOne. “The same one I had in Jerez.”

But once he arrived in Barcelona for this weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix, Bagnaia echoed Tardozzi’s view that his Le Mans crash wasn’t down to a technical fault with the bike. Instead, he pointed out that Ducati has since identified what really happened.

“We found it, but it wasn’t a technical problem,” Bagnaia said via AS. “Everything is fine. It was more of a feeling issue, and it won’t happen again. It wasn’t human error either, but I won’t go into details.

“When it’s the first time after a season and a half that you’re getting fast again, fighting for position and you crash – damn – I was very sad about this one.”

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