THE CHANGES to MotoGP for 2023 are nearly too numerous to mention. The first season opener on European soil in 17 years debuted a revised schedule and format, including the highly controversial ‘Sprint’. There was a heroes walk, an area where riders were penned in with fans around, and a riders’ parade, where they were driven around the track in a trailer to wave at the grandstands. There was even new theme music, which soundtracked the weekend’s events. Yet even in this new era of racing, the man on top remained the same.
Across a weekend of near-perfect weather on the Algarve, Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) demonstrated exactly why the majority of the MotoGP field had tipped him for this year’s title, winning the inaugural Sprint race on Saturday, before holding Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) at arm’s length the following afternoon to take a perfect 37-point haul away from the opening weekend.
Bagnaia rode with the authority of a champion all weekend, showcasing a wily knack for staying out of trouble in chaotic surroundings to boot. His late
