Ducati rider Nicolo Bulega has had a virtually unimpeachable start to his World Superbike title campaign - but a move to MotoGP now looks a longer shot than it appeared some months ago.

Bulega's two years of WorldSBK title contention under the Ducati banner in 2024 and 2025 had resurrected a MotoGP dream he'd had to abandon after struggling in Moto2. Though he'd lost out in both title races to Toprak Razgatlioglu (now a Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider), Bulega cemented himself as a major Ducati asset - and successfully negotiated a Ducati renewal that also granted him a MotoGP test role, with a view of a potential category switch for 2027.

He would be 27 at that moment, but MotoGP's impending change from Michelin to Pirelli (the current tyre supplier in WorldSBK) was positioned as both a convenient reset for any rookie and a potential advantage for the likes of Bulega and Razgatlioglu specifically.

None of that has really changed, and Bulega has been holding up his end of the bargain. He impressed standing in for Marc Marquez in two MotoGP rounds and the MotoGP post-season test last year, and - as the overwhelming title favourite - has gone six wins out of six in the 2026 WorldSBK season so far.

World Superbikes 2026 after 2 rounds

1 Nicolo Bulega 124 points
2 Iker Lecuona 68 points
3 Axel Bassani 60 points

Those six wins have come by an average margin of 4.206s, with Bulega leading 101 of the 104 race laps. He was in a different zipcode to the rest of the field in the Phillip Island opener, though faced a somewhat sterner challenge from particularly new team-mate Iker Lecuona last time out at Portimao.

However, that kind of form is exactly what was expected going into the season - and Bulega's camp is suggesting that it is not currently proving sufficient to enable a glide path to MotoGP.

Manager Alberto Martinelli told Italian publication GPone that "the situation is complicated" and that there is no offer on the table right now to take Bulega to MotoGP.

He also acknowledged: "Nicolo isn't the first choice - otherwise, it'd be done already. We have to be ready if a spot opens up.

"At Ducati, it seems like almost all the bikes are assigned already. Maybe one left - but it depends on a lot of factors."

Ducati is expected to retain a six-bike presence on the 2027 grid, with VR46 and Gresini backing up the factory team, despite Gresini's reported recent discontent and apparent conversations with Honda.

Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta are due to form the factory line-up, and Fermin Aldeguer will have extended his Ducati contract to compete for VR46 - rather than current team Gresini - next year.

The change of teams for Aldeguer is putting Gresini in a tough spot, but the team is thought to be keen on a line-up of Moto2 star Dani Holgado and past Gresini favourite Enea Bastianini - with Holgado reportedly already signed.

So the one seat "maybe left" is either the one tipped for Bastianini or Gresini, or the one at VR46 alongside Aldeguer. The latter, however, has an incumbent in Fabio Di Giannantonio, who has started 2026 in career-best form.

VR46 chief Uccio Salucci told Sky Italy at the most recent MotoGP round that a formal offer to continue will soon be made to Di Giannantonio.

To accommodate Bulega, either Di Giannantonio would have to be poached by Yamaha (they're known to have talked) or another manufacturer - or Ducati would have to make it worth either VR46's or Gresini's while to go against their own line-up preferences.

In Gresini's case, that would look particularly complicated - as the team would surely resist a full pivot to an all-rookie line-up, given it currently enjoys a pairing of proven MotoGP winners in Aldeguer and the KTM-bound Alex Marquez.

Unlike Bastianini (who has produced a timely light-at-the-end-of-tunnel performance at COTA) and Di Giannantonio (who has been electric), Bulega can't do much at all to raise his MotoGP stock at the moment - he cannot surprise by winning in WorldSBK, only by losing.

His management has hinted at exploring options outside of Ducati, but MotoGP-wise, that seems a reach - given it's Ducati, he will be doing new 850cc bike testing for rather than any of its rivals.

It now seems a lot more plausible that Bulega will have to be content with further building up his WorldSBK legacy instead - which could be good or bad for him, but is certainly very bad for other WorldSBK riders with short- or medium-term title aspirations.