MotoGP, Bagnaia, Bezzecchi and Marini testing before SBK at Portimao

In a couple of weeks the riders will finally be able to get back on their MotoGP bikes at Sepang and everyone is taking advantage of these days to get better prepared. For some years, almost everyone has been using road bikes to train and Portimao is the most popular destination at the moment, thanks to its climate. Today the rollercoaster Portuguese track saw Pecco Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini, who flew to Portugal for a test on the Panigale V4s, in action.

They weren't the only ones to have this idea, because in a few days (January 30 and February 1) there will be some guests from the premier class at the same circuit in the tests organized by the SBK teams. Aleix Espargarò, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and Jorge Martin will in fact be on the track together with Bautista, Rea, Toprak and the other riders from the production-based series.

But you can forget about a direct comparison between the two worlds because, by regulation, MotoGP riders can only train with road bikes, without any particular preparation, the most they can do is change the fairings, using Stock bikes.

However, lapping on a motorbike is always very useful to prepare to face the Malaysian heat and returning to the prototypes after more than two months of hiatus.

(Archive photo)