Rivals offering Aprilia MotoGP pair 'a lot of money' for 2027

Aprilia MotoGP boss Massimo Rivola has revealed his riders are being offered "a lot of money" by rivals as the rider market begins to unfold for 2027.
Only Honda (with rookie Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco) and Yamaha (with World Superbike convert/rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu) have riders contracted beyond 2026, so both Aprilia works bikes and both factory riders - Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin - are in play.
And there was no indication during Aprilia's 2026 launch that any 2027 agreement has been advanced between the manufacturer and either of its two riders, but Rivola admitted he may have to move quicker than he'd like to.
"Honestly, I would prefer not to do it quickly. But maybe I'm forced to do it quickly, because the others are moving quite fast," he said.
"I know that they are offering a lot of money to our riders.
"But in the end it's a commitment that we need to have all together. Clearly with Marco we started building something that could, allow me to say, could stay in the [history] books. And with Jorge we haven't started yet.
"I would love to see him 100% physically, and he's far away from being like that. He's a world champion, so it would be really nice to see him with us in the future, but first we need to give him his time."
While Bezzecchi was one of the best riders of 2025, Martin's first season with Aprilia was a total write-off amid repeated injuries - and included what he described on Thursday as the "big rollercoaster" of his (ultimately aborted) attempt to exit the contract early.
Coming off his injury-riddled year, Martin said he had "full confidence in myself" and didn't feel the need to "demonstrate anything" except to himself - but also suggested a willingness to continue with Aprilia by saying "I want to sign again" and that performing well "is the best opportunity to do it".
"I think today is not the day to speak about the market because we have this amazing bike and this amazing season in front of us," he answered to a follow-up question.
"What I can say is that it's very important for us riders to handle it in a good way, because you can't get distracted. But for me it's really easy at the moment. I want to focus on myself and focus on 2026."