Francesco Bagnaia came into Bꦅrno, round three of last year's MotoGP championship, full of confidence and eager to make amends after seeing a debut podium lost due to a late technical problem at Jerez🐠.

But if the smoking engine in Andalucia had been a cruel setback, the Italian was abou🍃t to experience a far bigger - and more painful - obstacl♐e when he fractured his right tibia during opening practice in the Czech Republic.

Not only did the injury put a stop to 🥂Bagnaia's momentum, but cast doubt on his hopes of being promoted to the Factory Ducati team for 2021.

"One thing that pushed me a lot during rehab was the fear of l🐻osing the factory seat," ♊Bagnaia said.

By the time Bagnaia made his return at Misano the stakes were even higher with Andrea Dovizioso having an🤡nounced in Austriܫa that he wouldn't continue at Ducati.

That meant his factory seat was officially ava⛦ilable and Ducati soon made clear the choice would be between Pramac's Bagnaia and Avintia's Johann Zarco.

"I tried to come back at Misano to demonstrate what I had done in Jerez. With my trainer I had done a really great job, physically and menta☂lity. I arrived in Misano with pain but I was convinced I could fight for the top positions."

And that's exactly what he did. Bagnaia qualified in sixth, then rode to a debut podium in the form of second placﷺe behind Franco Morbidelli.  Bagnaia's form continued to build with fifth on the grid the following weekend, when he looked on course for victory until falling from the lead.

But Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna 🤡had seen enough to give the 2021 Factory ride to Bagnaia.

"What Pecco did was really important in my opinion," Dall’Igna said. "It was a cr♚ucial period in his career, because he got injured at Brno. And so for him, both mentally and psychologically, it was re⭕ally difficult to deal with.

"As well as his athletic performance, it was the way he reacted to such a big setba𓆏c🔴k that influenced the decision to choose him."

Bagnaia now intends to channel the same motivation and mentality shown during his injury recovery for the full 2021 sಞeason.

"I will try to keep this mentality this year⛎," he said. "Try to do it like I did before Misano. I would like to be competitive like this period last year for all season."

While the Misano form suggested Bagnaia was set for a strong end to last sea🐻son, in reality he only fini𒊎shed three of the seven races that followed, with a best of sixth place.

"The thing was the temperature. Where we find hot temperatures. I was alwꦆays fast. But when we found lower temperatures, like Aragon, I started struggling most of all with the front. I started crashing🍰 without pushing. That was critical for me," said the 24-year-old.

"I 💃prefer to have a better feeling with the front than rear. For the front, if you lose it you cr🍒ash. The rear you can manage with gas.

"I have worked on this during this wint♎er. Concentration and pushing when we have lower temperatures. I am lucky to have Jack [Miller] as team-mate. He’s very good in this [low] temperature.

"It’s something I have to�ꩲ� work on if I want to stay with the faster guys. Looking at the data of Jack last year, this was clear. He was already fast from the first lap.

"I looked at every session of Aragon or Valencia 🅺whe🐼re Jack was fast. It was very easy to see my exit lap was 4 or 5s slower than the lap of Jack.

"I have to learn to push without feeling to warm the tyre. If I can make it from the first lap, 😼we can ride like we have more temperature.

"This is the most important thing to improve, because it will b🐎e easier to be faster always.

"I've been trying to work on ꧋it at the ranch. I tried at the ranch to push from the first lap and have improved, although it’s not the same a🌱s MotoGP for sure."

At the team's official launch, Dall’Igna ma༺de clear that Ducati won't be lowering its expectations during the first year of the new Miller and Bagnaia factory era.

ꦰ"Our goals must be to win the riders' championship, or better still, both championships🌱," he said.

"For sure if I’m in the⛎ factory team it means the goal will be to win the championship," agreed Bagnaia. "But my goal 🌳before that is to win my first race in MotoGP - something I lost last year by 6 laps [at Misano].

"I just would like𓃲 to win my f🅘irst race in MotoGP this year and be competitive always.

"In Moto2🐈 I was consistent and wasn’t crashing. In the last two years I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I would like to be more competitive or consistent, also in the wet or in cold conditions.

"A fa♒ctory rider has to be competitive always. When you have some problems or difficult moments, the result you need to do is a fifth position. You always have to be there.

"If we see in the championships of Vale or Marquez, a lot of times they don’t go out of the🍃 top 5. This is very important."