11/05/2026

Jorge Martin’s French GP win comes one year after Aprilia contract saga

The timing of Jorge Martin’s first MotoGP victory as an Aprilia rider at the French Grand Prix could hardly have been more symbolic.

It was exactly a year ago at Le Mans that Martin and his manager Albert Valera stunned the Aprilia management by informing them of their intention to exit the contract at the end of 2025, likely to join Honda.

The Noale factory had gone to great lengths to poach the Spaniard in the summer of 2024, when he was still fighting for the world title aboard the Pramac Ducati. His eventual championship success against the factory bike of Francesco Bagnaia only raised his stock and heightened expectations surrounding his move to Aprilia.

But their partnership got off to a wretched start when he injured himself twice in pre-season — first during the Sepang test and then while training for the opening round. If that, and a third injury in the Qatar GP wasn’t enough, Martin tried to extricate himself from his two-year Aprilia contract in early 2025 while still working towards gaining full fitness.

Aprilia had invested heavily in Martin to lead the project, and the latter’s attempted exit did not go down well with the team — or the wider paddock. The 2024 champion wanted to use a performance-related clause in his contract to leave Aprilia after one season, but that move garnered criticism as he had yet to finish a race by that point.

Further, his team-mate Marco Bezzecchi — who also had joined the factory team from Ducati’s satellite structure — had also proved by that point that the 2025-spec RS-GP was a capable bike.

The saga dragged on for several months, before Martin and Aprilia eventually agreed to honour the remainder of their contract.

Tensions remained in the garage later in the season, when Martin was beginning to regain his form but wasn’t quite able to get the best out of the bike. This coincided with a sudden upturn in Aprilia’s form, with Bezzecchi winning multiple races towards the end of the year. A fourth big accident at Motegi did not help matters for Martin.

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Heading into 2026, it was already clear that Bezzecchi would be the new number one rider at Ducati, particularly with Martin signing a contract with Yamaha for the start of the 850cc era in 2027.

However, the 28-year-old appeared revitalised the day he stepped on the bike in the Thailand test, even though he missed crucial running in Sepang to recover from two additional operations in the off-season.

His brilliant sprint win at Austin in March already hinted at what was to come, but the French GP weekend marked his most conclusive performance yet. Not only did he bag yet another Saturday win, he also outgunned Bezzecchi in the grand prix to claim a landmark result for both himself and Aprilia.

Even Rivola couldn’t control his emotions as he recalled the 2025 contract saga — unprompted — while asked about Aprilia’s historic podium lockout at Le Mans.

“I’m still thinking about last year at Le Mans here, when Jorge wanted to leave and I said, ‘no, I think you can win with us’. So winning at Le Mans [this year] is quite special to me,” he said during the official broadcast.

The result also leaves Martin just one point behind championship leader Bezzecchi heading into next weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix. While Martin may no longer represent Aprilia’s long-term future in MotoGP, he could still end up delivering the manufacturer its first premier-class world title.