Crashing at Assen: MotoGP Riders Blame Medium Front Tyre After Friday Chaos
The Dutch TT at Assen kicked off with drama on Friday, as MotoGP riders faced a crash-filled practice session that raised serious questions about tyre safety—specifically, Michelin’s much-maligned medium front compound.
In just the first seven minutes of Practice 2, chaos unfolded: six crashes, two red flags, and more than a few furious riders. While everyone thankfully walked away relatively unscathed, the consensus in the paddock was loud and clear—this tyre just isn’t cutting it.
The Return of an Old Villain
One of the first to go down was Honda stand-in Aleix Espargaro, and he didn’t mince his words. Pointing squarely at the medium front tyre, Espargaro said, “This front is just not working. It’s like ice. We’ve said the same thing for two years.”
He explained that both the soft and hard compounds behave predictably and are cut from the same cloth, but the medium? “It’s like a transport tyre. You lean, and you lose the front.”
With track temperatures hovering at a tricky 23°C, riders were stuck in a limbo—not warm enough for the hard, not suited to the soft—leaving many with no choice but to run the medium. Espargaro has reportedly raised the issue multiple times in the Safety Commission, urging Michelin to revisit their tyre allocations.
A Compromise Too Far?
Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Ducati echoed the frustration. Riders, he said, were choosing the medium not because they wanted to—but because they had to. With a limited supply of soft tyres in their weekend allocation, most opted to save those for crucial late-session time attacks.
“Assen is always tricky with temperature and weather,” Di Giannantonio explained. “Everyone went with the medium to save softs, but it wasn’t safe. Maybe next time, we need to bring a few more softs in the van, just in case.”
Michelin’s Medium in the Crosshairs
Miguel Oliveira of the Trackhouse Yamaha squad took it one step further—suggesting that Michelin should ditch the medium altogether in future seasons.
“We couldn’t get it up to temperature,” said Oliveira. “Even when we did, it was still unpredictable. I waited 10 minutes in the garage just to avoid wasting another soft.”
Oliveira confirmed what many in the paddock are now pushing for in 2026: two compounds only—soft and hard—with enough in the allocation to make both work safely across varying conditions.
The Fallout Continues
Among the nine crashes that scarred the session, the Aprilia duo of Ai Ogura and Lorenzo Savadori had the most spectacular—both incidents bringing out red flags. Ogura’s crash was a particularly violent highside that left his bike on fire in the gravel and reduced him to a single machine for the rest of the session.
Savadori, ironically, was not using the medium when he went down, instead running softs at Turn 8. His fall underlined another issue—when the grip isn’t there, it’s not just the tyre compound at fault, but the unpredictable combination of weather, track temp, and limited tyre choices.
Marc Marquez’s crew chief Frankie Carchedi called it “possibly the most expensive session in MotoGP history”—and with multiple bikes in pieces, he might not be far off.
Final Thoughts: Is It Time for Change?
When multiple factory riders call out the same issue, and the crash count stacks up like dominoes, it's time to pay attention. The medium front tyre has long been the awkward middle child in Michelin's family of compounds, and Assen may finally be the tipping point.
With safety and consistency on the line, perhaps it's time to revisit the tyre allocation model entirely. Fewer compounds, more of the ones riders trust, and an end to playing tyre roulette on unpredictable weekends like Assen.
Because when MotoGP bikes start falling like flies, it’s not just rubber on the line—it’s rider safety, team budgets, and the very spectacle of the sport we love.