Bagnaia, the good boy forged in Spain

Alzamora signed him to go with Álex Márquez and Rins before Aspar shaped him and Valentino Rossi made him 'explode'

Pecco Bagnaia is basically a good guy, the exemplary driver that every team would like to have and the kid who almost never gets out of his place. He likes to cook or be quiet with his girlfriend. "He's hard-working, he's always eager..." This is how Pablo Nieto defines him, with whom he was Moto2 champion in 2018 at Sky VR46 and who has him at the Valentino Rossi Academy. Because the incident in Ibiza last summer, a car accident, and a positive blood test, is the exception that confirms his rule: always behave well.

This 25-year-old from Turin started out, like many others, because of the family hobby. His father and uncle were simple amateurs, but they took Paul Ricard to see how they filmed. He loved it. Then, for Christmas, when he was five years old, they gave him a Beta 50. "When I played with my knee I fell in love. I told myself that I liked that more than football or basketball," he admits. That's where it all started. By the way, everyone calls him Pecco because of an anecdote from his childhood. His little sister, Carola, who now accompanies him to all the races, when he was learning to speak he was not able to pronounce Francesco. He 'baptized' him as Pecco and that's how he stayed forever.

He excelled in Italy, but Bagnaia saw that he had to emigrate to progress. "Through a relative of his, Umberto Milessi, from Galfer, I contacted him to see if he could be in the structure and that's where he started at the base," recalls Emilio Alzamora about a proposal that came to him to sign him for Monlau. fio and did not disappoint. "Pecco started in Monlau in the PreGP and from there he went on to the FIM CEV to reach the gates of the World Championship. He was a charming boy. He listened a lot. With the people from Monlau he was taking giant steps. His characteristic is that he has a step for curve very fast. We saw it then, above all, in the FIM CEV in 125cc", recalls the 125cc champion in 1999 for MARCA. He formed a team with Álex Rins and Álex Márquez, aged 14 and 15.

These advances served for the Italian Federation to 'repatriate' him for his World Cup squad with Fenati. It was not a good year, but Rossi and his Academy took notice of him. He went to Sky, also with Romano Fenati, but an injury in the Netherlands stopped him.

Doubts hung over him, but another Spaniard, Aspar, opted for him. "I was very surprised. I would highlight three things: professionalism, self-confidence, and, on a family level, he is incredible. Gino Borsoi insisted on signing him. I saw things about him, but not that much," he recalls.

The four-time champion recalls an enlightening anecdote. "In Australia, once, I was number 26 on the grid, with the Mahindra. I told him, to encourage him, I was also number 26 in Sao Paulo in 1992, and then I finished second. And he told me: 'if I start it's to win.' It could seem like a ghost, but by the fourth lap I was already with the leaders," he explains with a laugh.

Due to a bet with Borsoi, Bagnaia tested a MotoGP Ducati in Valencia at the end of his fourth year in Moto3 (2016, at the age of 19). It blew everyone away. "We wanted him to be with us in MotoGP, but it couldn't be. He's very serious, constant, and thinking about the race. When he did three laps with the Ducati in Valencia, he was already better than Yonny Hernández in the fourth quarter," says Aspar.

Ya bajo el paragüas de Valentino en Moto2, tuvo un año discreto como novato, pero todos siguieron confiando en él y la recompensa llegó en 2018 con el título. Ya sólo le quedaba subir a MotoGP

Pecco siempre soñó de rojo. "Quiero pilotar una Ducati", decía ya en su primer año en Moto2, con el Sky de Rossi y sus lazos con Yamaha. Los boloñeses se anticiparon a todos y le ficharon tras su curso de novato en la clase media. Vieron su potencial y profesionalidad. En Borgo Panigale fue escalando hasta hacerse el líder del proyecto, el predestinado para devolver la corona. Ahora es una realidad.

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