Fabio Di Giannantonio secured his second Grand Prix podium of the 2025 MotoGP season at Mugello, but it was the first time in front of his home crowd.
The Roman rider started from the third row of the grid and snatched the last podium place from Francesco Bagnaia’s grasp on the penultimate lap.
Di Giannantonio emulated his best result of the season with his other rostrum appearance occurring in Texas.
The Italian was elated with his result, having fulfilled a childhood dream of standing on the same podium where his heroes once stood.
“It’s been a dream to be on this podium since I was a kid; watching Vale [Valentino Rossi], Capirex [Loris Capirossi], or Max [Biaggi] being on the podium with all the people [below] – it was a dream,” he stated post-race in MotoGP.com’s After the Flag.
“I think we have this moment, this tradition here in Mugello that is unbelievable to have the fans on the straight and in the end it’s been a dream. I worked hard for it.
“Luckily, we were able to make a big step in the Aragon test to improve the bike and be fast this weekend.
“Yesterday, I saw that we had a really good potential in the Sprint; for this I was happy but also not that happy because I wanted the podium also yesterday.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio: ‘I went all-in’ to secure maiden Italian MotoGP podium
The 26-year-old revealed he adopted an all-or-nothing approach in the final half to secure his maiden Italian MotoGP podium.
Sensing that his fellow GP25 Ducati rider Bagnaia was slightly off the pace, he timed his move perfectly and completed it in the last few laps.
“But today I went all-in, especially the last seven or eight laps. I was watching P4 on the pit board and I said ‘No, in Mugello not P4, P3 or nothing,” Di Giannantonio stated.
“One of my mechanics when I was in Moto3 was like ‘Champagne or gravel,’ and today was all-in.”
He added in the post-race press conference: “I saw Pecco struggling a little bit, I saw Pecco also struggling because he was doing like ‘elastic’ with Alex [Marquez] – when you are like this you are not that strong to put your rhythm.
“So, I think he was struggling a bit with the front, but still he was really fast and strong on the braking; so I tried to use the rear as much as possible to recover and at the end I saw him a little more relaxed and I said ‘Now is the time.’
“We did it, so that’s really good for me.”
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