Troy Bayliss tests the GP9

How much do Ducati love Troy Bayliss? Invited to test ride the new Desmosedici GP9 MotoGP bike at Mugello, Italy, Troy gets to have his old race number put on the test bike, and is thrown a new matching set of leathers just for the test.

Troy spent the first day getting used to the GP9, not having ridden anything in anger since his epic double win at Portimao on the eve of his retirement.

Troy Bayliss: This is literally the first time I’ve ridden a motorcycle since we unveiled the 1198 after the end of last season at Portimao”, said the Australia rider. “It was nice to shake off a bit of rust and with Mugello being such a physical circuit it was a good workout! The last time I rode a GP machine was at Valencia, which was the 990cc, but the 800cc isn’t exactly lacking power and I just spent today getting a feel for it. I can’t wait to get back out there tomorrow and on Thursday and hopefully by the end of the session I’ll be able to give some useful feedback to Filippo”.