Neil Morrison | December 31, 2024
Jorge Martin may not have had the outright speed of Francesco Bagnaia in the 2024 MotoGP title fight, but the Spaniard turned last year’s big weakness into this year’s big strength. Neil Morrison understands how Cycle News’ Rider of the Year did it.
Very few riders will know the feeling of being MotoGP World Champion. Only five before Martin have ever experienced the feeling as a satellite team rider.
Photography by Gold & Goose
As if winning a maiden MotoGP World Championship wasn’t worthy of enough fanfare, Jorge Martin’s triumphant 2024 campaign is in several other ways. For a start, he became the first satellite rider since 2001 to win road racing’s ultimate honor (and only the sixth in history). The fact that he won three races to chief rival Pecco Bagnaia’s 11 (just the ninth time a champion had an inferior win haul) pointed to a rider hitting new heights of maturity.
That it all came after being spurned by manufacturer Ducati in June in favor of Marc Marquez for 2025 underscored Martin’s drive and resilience even further. It is little wonder, then, that Cycle News has called him 2024’s Rider of the Year.
Yet back at the start of the year, there were plenty of factors working against Martin and his aim of taking the crown. Along with the fact that he still found himself in a satellite team, and the suspicion that Ducati didn’t have total faith in his abilities (which was confirmed in June) still lingered, the rider himself was facing a crippling period of self-doubt before a wheel had even been turned.
Martin glides through Catalunya’s turn five as smooth as butter.
“In January, I was really struggling with my mental health,” he revealed in November. “Last season was great. Even after being second, I was quite happy. But in January, I started to have a lot of fears, like ‘I will never be champion in MotoGP.’”
Conquering these fears was key to a triumphant campaign. It wasn’t just that; Martin ironed out so many weak points from the year before. Over nine months he was the smartest, and crucially, the calmest in the class—a far cry from the insanely fast but hubristic figure that lit up the fall of 2023.
After speaking with several figures in the 26-year-old’s inner circle, Cycle News can reveal how he did it.
Martin’s record of three Sunday wins was padded out with seven Sprint race victories, which, along with a newfound consistency when things didn’t go his way, ensured the title.
Training the Most Important Muscle
It didn’t take long for Martin to prove he had the speed to cut it in MotoGP—he scored pole position and a podium in just his second premier-class race. And 2023 showed he could apply it consistently enough to fight for a championship. Yet last season, he showed plenty of weaknesses, too, namely an arrogance at forever wanting to show his superiority.
“Maybe being too good gave me overconfidence,” he said at the end of 2023, when he had just fallen short. “I said, ‘I can pull away and win by five seconds [Indonesia], I can win with a [different] tire to the others [Australia].” Such arrogance paved the way for defeat in crucial moments. Those lessons, and more, were heeded over the winter months.
“Last season was great. Even after being second, I was quite happy. But in January, I started to have a lot of fears, like ‘I will never be champion in MotoGP.’”
After his crisis of confidence in January, Jorge and his team sought out help. “We all felt there were some areas to improve, especially in terms of managing his mind and managing pressure,” Albert Valera, Martin’s personal manager, told Cycle News. “The brain is probably the most important muscle in the human body, and he figured out that he had to train it.
Despite the Prima Pramac Ducati’s status as a satellite team, the Ducati staff were always there to help with no secrets hidden, as Martin confers with Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna.
“He started working with a good professional in that area. They’ve been working together all season, and we can see the results. It’s a very demanding sport mentally, and he got himself ready for it. We’ve seen some changes from him on track. He’s more constant, and he can manage some situations better, where he must make a decision—for instance, finishing second instead of risking too much for a victory. That’s what brought him to this point.”
Valera believes a more settled personal life also contributed to a greater feeling of calm. “He’s always been a very social guy. I’d say in the past, he had maybe too many friends for a professional athlete. He’s closed more the circle around him and now is with his real friends, which are the good ones, which he needs. I’d say he’s now able to enjoy a calmer life thanks to Maria [Monfort], his girlfriend. When you’re single, you try to spend more time with your friends. But I think Maria has helped him a lot to settle and relax.”
The work with his mental coach and recalibrating his outlook proved crucial as he maintained his cool while repeatedly trading blows with Bagnaia in the season’s flyaway stretch. And an ability to cope with the strain that comes with added media attention week in, week out also paid off.
Martin with girlfriend, Maria. “I think Maria has helped him a lot to settle and relax.”—Albert Valera.
“Thanks to my coach, I improved a lot,” Martin said. “[After a while] I was more focused on the hope of winning than on the fear of losing. I mean, if I lose, okay, I’m not dying. But I was with a lot of hope of winning. This helped me a lot.”
Another factor Martin had to control was an overactive mind. Never was that more apparent than the agonizing 10-day wait between the penultimate race in Malaysia and the season finale in Barcelona. That new outlook was crucial as he prepared to manage a healthy 24-point advantage.
“My head’s a machine of predicting the future! So I’m always trying to analyze. But that’s everything in my life. This season I worked a lot on that to try to calm down, to try to live more in the moment, rather than the future.”
Too many moments like these spoiled Francesco Bagnaia’s chance at a third consecutive title.
In The Past, It Was About Instinct; Now He’s In Control
Martin may have won a Moto3 World Championship in 2018, but the pressure that comes with contending for motorcycle’s top prize is a whole different sport. The Spaniard admitted he lost the enjoyment when scrapping with Bagnaia in the final part of 2023—he was just too tense, which was evident in crucial bouts in Qatar and Valencia.
With that experience under his belt, Martin was a completely different character in 2024. “I sleep much better now,” he revealed in Japan. “Last season was really difficult to manage. It was like a nightmare. Even if I was winning, I didn’t enjoy it at all.”
This time around, he viewed the exhaustive run of flyaway races differently and had gained some crucial perspective. “It’s a big privilege to be here again,” he said in Malaysia. “Last year, I lost it and nothing happened to me, so it wasn’t the end of the world. And I’m here now.”
No question, this added calmness helped him keep a clear eye on the job at hand. In crucial bouts in Japan, Australia and Thailand, he held a points advantage over Bagnaia. And not winning at each venue was not the end of the world if the reigning World Champion finished just ahead or behind.
“The biggest step [Jorge] made is the mental side,” crew chief Daniele Romagnoli told Cycle News. “He’s now able to control his emotions much better and the approach to the race and qualifying. He’s able to manage more his limit, controlling things well. If he gets passed, he doesn’t try to pass back immediately.
“In the past, it was more about instinct. Now, he is more in control even if there were mistakes in Jerez, Sachsenring and Misano. Japan was very important. Our target was to start on the first row, but he was 11th [in qualifying]. He recovered and even tried to catch Pecco but saw it was too risky and settled for second. In Phillip Island, of course, the plan was to win the Sprint and the race. But we said before the race on Sunday, ‘If you can win, go for it! But if something happens and Marc [Marquez] is there—don’t do stupid things—and bring the points back to the garage.”
Martin’s ability to manage the pressure even drew the praise of his rivals. “For sure [Jorge]’s grown,” Cristian Gabarrini, Bagnaia’s crew chief, told Cycle News. “If you look at the numbers, he won a lot less races than Pecco, but he won the championship. That means he’s very, very solid. He’s fast in every situation. I think he worked a lot on his mind to be more focused and have less up and down. [And] the results are right.”
Martin knew the title was a real possibility following his triumph in Indonesia’s GP race after falling in the Saturday Sprint.
Ducati Benefits
It would be remiss to not mention Ducati’s role in Martin’s success. Few seasons in recent history have been so comprehensively dominated by one manufacturer. The Italian brand won 19 out of 20 feature races and 17 Sprints from 20. And unlike 2023, its new package was a clear step forward from last year’s model. Along with Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, the Spaniard was able to take full advantage of the marvelous GP24, which gained in braking stability and acceleration over Marc Marquez’s GP23.
What’s more, Ducati’s open system, whereby all eight riders have access to the others’ data, was a help for the most part. “It’s amazing to watch,” said Martin back in May. “I can see Pecco is stronger in braking. Marc is stronger in entry. I am faster on exit. So, at the end of the day, you try to take details from everyone. I think the key to our performance also is because we have the others’ data, and we can learn where we struggle. But it’s also a pity that when you have this [advantage as] they catch up!”
Romagnoli even indicated that being privy to their main rival’s data meant Martin and Bagnaia took on the other’s traits. “Pecco [has] always [been] good in braking,” he said. “We’ve worked with Martin to improve this. If you check the data of the two riders, they look the same. They’re checking each other, copying each other, and the riding becomes more similar. In the past, we were checking to improve one-tenth. Now it’s to improve milliseconds. These two riders are pushing the limits.”
Crew chief Daniele Romagnoli (left) oversaw a rider with increased maturity and a calmer head in 2024.
While Martin found himself in a satellite team, Prima Pramac Racing was independent in name only. “The reality is it’s a full-factory team, with full factory bikes and a factory rider,” reasoned Gabarrini. “The guys in the team aren’t a lower level than our ones.” Even as he threatened to take the number-one plate away from the marque in 2025, he found a factory that wouldn’t stand in his way. “The key was Ducati,” Martin acknowledged after sealing the title. “I’m so grateful to Claudio Domenicali (Ducati CEO) because nobody thought they [would] let me fight with all the tools. Even if they didn’t want me for next year, they let me.”
Martin’s dominant double win in Malaysia put one hand and four fingers on the trophy.
His Spirit Is Inherent
From Martin’s early moments in the World Championship, it was clear he had a penchant for delivering in moments of adversity. “We always knew Jorge had a huge talent,” remembered Martin’s personal manager, Albert Valera. “His [fighting] spirit is something inherent, that he had since he was a kid. We could see it in Moto3 when he broke his wrist [in the Czech Republic, 2018], came back in Austria [one week later] and did the podium. We could also see it in Portimao [in 2021] when he broke nine bones in his first year in MotoGP and then he won in Austria. All these situations made him stronger mentally.”
That experience was crucial as he bounced back from numerous disappointments this campaign. And it spoke of Martin’s strength that he responded each time after a mistake. Take the fall from the lead in Jerez for instance—Martin fought back with a double win in France. He shook off the disappointment of missing out on Ducati’s factory team after Mugello by taking an important pair of seconds at Assen. And he waltzed to victory in Indonesia a day after carelessly throwing a Sprint win away.
“I was more focused on the hope of winning than on the fear of losing. I mean, if I lose, okay, I’m not dying. But I was with a lot of hope of winning. This helped me a lot.”
The biggest response, however, came after the German GP. Having scored pole, won the Sprint convincingly, Martin was two laps from completing a perfect weekend before a crash out of the lead saw the old doubts return.
Friends, still, but only just. Bagnaia’s (right) and Martin’s (left) rivalry was high-wire sport at its finest but fought with a binding respect.
Yet Romagnoli believes a set-up change to correct Michelin’s grippier 2024 rear tire adding pressure to the front was key for the rest of the campaign. “A big change [we made] was after the Sachsenring [crash],” he said. “Of course, I can’t tell you what we did. But we analyzed the maneuver that led to the crash—the settings or perhaps something with the electronics. I never want to point the finger at a rider because he’s always doing his best. But we saw that the rear was pushing the front and there was big understeer in that moment.
“So, we worked on a few solutions and moved our base setting [accordingly]. The level these guys are riding at is so high. They’re always on the limit. But it looks like this change made it a bit safer when he was entering in the corner. Last year, we were a bit more stable. It took us longer this year to find our base setting, but from Misano [to the end we used] basically the same setting.”
Once again, Martin was able to apply great perspective at the following round in England. “The Sachsenring situation was not that bad, just like now [at Silverstone] is not that good. The important thing is to keep improving, keep learning.”
It was an outlook that served him well in 2024. And one that should help as he embarks on an even bigger challenge in 2025: turning the temperamental Aprilia factory into title contenders. CN
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