Jorge Lorenzo’s move to Ducati was one of the major talking points throughout last season and the winter. And rightly so. Though the Italian marque are now winners again in MotoGP, their situation was far from that of Yamaha’s.

But the Spaniard was convinced that Bologna was the place to be, and you could not have disagreed with him on that when he finished the opening day of the Valencia test third quickest on the 2016 Desmosedici.

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However, this, at the moment, looks like it may well have been a performance that flattered to deceive.

Over the winter, two questions arose: could Lorenzo adapt his riding style to suite the heavy Ducati, and would his time at Ducati be more prosperous than that of old foe Valentino Rossi’s?

Lorenzo has a very clinical way of riding a motorcycle. His style is to release the brake early and charge into the corner, carrying as much corner speed as the bike will allow. It is an art form and a privilege to watch trackside.

This was all very well and good on the lovely-to-ride YZR-M1, a bike Lorenzo had between his thighs for nine years. The Desmosedici, on the other hand, is a completely different kettle of fish.

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The Bologna bike is famed for its difficult cornering. The Desmo likes to understeer mid-corner, so the rider has to make more changes to the position of the bike during this phase, which is physically draining and costs them vital hundredths.

So Ducati riders need to make up their time elsewhere. Corner exit is not a problem; that Desmodromic engine could rival a Saturn 5 rocket in a straight line. It is on the way in where they look for most of their time.

This is what has unstuck Lorenzo. During much of the Sepang test, the Spaniard was releasing the brakes too early, finding the Ducati cannot carry the corner speed he would like, and losing chunks of time.

Beginning to adapt, the bike is still fighting him through the turns. For other Ducati riders, this is not such a problem, because they are used to it. As was evidenced by Andrea Dovizioso and Scott Redding during the Qatar race.

It was the Ducati’s cornering performance that hindered Rossi during his two-year stint with the marque. Admittedly, back then, the situation was far worse.

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Losail is a circuit which suits the Ducati; it is very point and squirt, and also low grip, which negates some of their rivals’ cornering advantage whilst allowing Ducat to exploit their superior traction.

Lorenzo knew this would be a good place to kick off his Ducati career, and a good place to potentially dig an elbow into Rossi. Lorenzo also knows the upcoming couple of circuits do not favour his machine.

The weekend started off well enough. He was fifth in FP1, albeit 1.3s off of his Yamaha replacement. But from then he slid back. He was eighth in FP2, and by the end of FP3 was 12th on the combined times, 1.1s off the pace, languishing behind both Pramac bikes and his factory team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Qualifying was cancelled, so he was locked into 12th on the grid – three places lower than what Rossi managed on his Ducati debut. Despite this, he was more consistent on the bike by the end of practice and, crucially, feeling less exhausted.

Ducati Corse

During the race, a mistake at Turn 4 on the opening lap cost him dear and he was relegated to the back of the pack. He put on a commendable fightback, but by mid distance his grip fell away and he began finding the bike too physical to ride again.

At the chequered flag, he was 20s adrift of the win in 11th. Before this year, his lowest finishing position in Qatar was fourth, and that was across all three classes of the world championship.

Meanwhile, his plug-in-and-play replacement at Yamaha took pole position and went onto win the race – repeating a feat Lorenzo achieved on his Yamaha debut, and bettering one as well. In the process, 22-year-old Vinales has already done something 29-year-old Lorenzo set out at Ducati to do – win with multiple factories.

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Rossi’s Ducati debut ended in a lonely seventh place, and his year failed to make any real improvement from there, save for a solitary third at the French Grand Prix.

So, are we at panic stations yet?

Lorenzo’s pace was all over the place. He spent the opening handful of laps wobbling around in the 1m57s, and had lost the consistency that he ostensibly found on Friday. In the latter stages he had dropped into the 1m58s, and had only set four 1m56s in the entire race. The top three, of which his team-mate was one, managed 18 each.

This was surprising, especially as in the Qatar test he was only a tenth off the pace of his team-mate and just a couple of tenths away from Vinales.

He himself admitted that: “I’m still not prepared to fight for something big.” That is a comment that his bosses will not be glad to hear, because Lorenzo was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle.

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A bike developed by a more efficient race department, and one tested by Casey Stoner, arguably the greatest rider of the modern era, underneath arguably the other greatest rider of the modern era. This was it for Ducati, or it was suppose to be anyway.

But let’s not light the beacons of doom just yet.

It is worth noting, Rossi revealed upon his return to Yamaha in 2013 that he knew he had made a mistake switching to Ducati after just four laps on the bike. You don’t get that same impression from Lorenzo.

Lorenzo did admit he isn’t at the level he should be, but he did also say things are looking a lot worse than they actually are. And that is a fair assessment. Dovizioso was close to victory, and the satellite riders are packing potential on year-old machinery.

Since the switch to Michelin tyres, the Spaniard has struggled when the temperatures drop. The race was delayed by 45 minutes, and the track had dropped to 22 degrees. Throw in rising humidity, which sees dew form on the circuit, and perhaps it is no surprise he found the going tough.

Michelin are using softer carcasses this year for the tyres, but I think Lorenzo’s woes stem more from his head rather than anything physical. He simply is not comfortable on the bike yet, and so any other variable that can affect him will.

Getting comfortable on the bike will take time, and he is more than aware of this. But once he does, though not a perfect motorcycle yet, he knows he will have a bike that can see him challenge ‘for something big’.

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And whilst Vinales sweeps the memory of his compatriot under the rug at Yamaha, a fire will be burning deep down for when he can finally strike. And strike hard he will.

It was an inauspicious start for Lorenzo in Qatar but, unlike with Rossi in 2011, this is not a sign of things to come.