The World Superbike returned to action after the holidays and did so in France, on the Magny-Cours track with the small hope that there could be more battles for victory between Nicolò Bulega and Iker Lecuona. The two Ducati riders, especially the Italian, have monopolized the victories this year, especially a Bulega who seems unstoppable and who on French soil sought to leave the title ready for sentencing.
Although achieving it mathematically seemed complicated, the Italian once again came out with everything session after session, including the Superpole that he scored by securing first place in race 1 and in the Superpole Race.
SBK France 2026 – Race 1: First victory of the weekend for Bulega, first visit to the hospital for Bridwell
With Iker Lecuona knowing that the only option he has is to try to surprise Bulega in the first corners, the Spaniard went all out. Starting third, he first passed Sam Lowes and, coming to the first big stop, at turn five, he took the lead.
The Spaniard gave his maximum but already on lap three and in the same place, Bulega returned the overtake to begin to escape, until one lap later the red flag was shown due to a strong fall by Tommy Bridewell who, after being taken to the medical center, was checked and declared fit to continue competing.
When the race resumed, Lecuona took the lead again, but again Bulega returned the overtake a few laps later to escape for victory, the twenty-fourth of twenty-five possible victories, with which he also surpasses Haga to become the sixth driver with the most victories in the WSBK.
Lecuona finished second for the twentieth time this year, with Sam Lowes completing the podium in the first race, although the excitement was in the fight for fourth position between Yari Montella and Alex Lowes, which ended up falling into the hands of the Italian. Baldassarri, Bassani, Surra Gerloff and Xavi Vierge completed the top 10 of a race in which Álvaro Bautista could only finish fourteenth.
SBK France 2026 – Superpole Race: Lecuona tried again, but Bulega does not give in
History repeated itself practically from the first moment in the Superpole Race. Bulega started well and took the lead, but Lecuona again took advantage of the braking at turn five to overtake his teammate and take first position. The Spaniard tried to hold on in front, although on the third lap Bulega regained the lead at precisely the same point.
A lap later Lecuona tried again, but went wide and Sam Lowes took advantage to place second. Of course, the Spaniard reacted quickly to recover the position a few corners later. All this movement allowed Bulega to open a lead of more than a second and a half and, from there, control the race until achieving his twenty-fifth victory of the season. A figure that at that time left him two wins short of the historical record for victories in the same year.
Lecuona crossed the finish line second for the twenty-first time this season, while third place ended up in the hands of Yari Montella. Sam Lowes had it practically assured, but he crashed in turn three of the last lap and left the Italian clear. Bridewell, for his part, seemed to have fully recovered from the scare of Race 1. After being declared fit to compete he finished sixth, just one position away from equaling his best result in the World Superbike.
SBK France 2026 – Race 2: Bulega completes the triplet and Bridewell raises a red flag again
The final race of the weekend had even less story when it came to victory. This time Bulega did not let Lecuona surprise him on the first lap and, after defending the lead in braking in Adelaide, he began to put ground in the way. In just four laps the Italian had already made it clear that the pace was once again on his side.
He clocked a 1:35.159, seven tenths faster than Lecuona on that lap, and from there he expanded the lead until he crossed the finish line with more than five seconds ahead of his teammate.
With this result, Bulega added his 26th victory of the season and is only one away from the historical record of 27 wins in the same year. Lecuona, second again, now has 22 second places in 2026.
Behind them, the fight for the last place on the podium had more action. Alberto Surra came out strong and placed third, but Montella ended up overtaking him on the sixth lap to regain a position that he would not abandon. Lorenzo Baldassarri also moved up to fourth place, while Surra finished fifth. Álvaro Bautista, who had had a fairly discreet weekend up to that point, managed to advance to sixth position after overtaking Tommy Bridewell in the closing stages.
Precisely the British would return to be the protagonist shortly after. When he was running seventh, Bridewell crashed in turn three during lap 20, causing a new red flag. As more than two-thirds of the race had already been completed, it was not resumed, considering the results existing at that time as good. Bridewell had to be taken to the medical center again and this time was declared unfit due to multiple bruises and a possible concussion.
A really complicated ending for a driver who had started Sunday with a sixth place in the Superpole Race after the serious accident suffered on Saturday. In this abrupt way, a practically perfect weekend ended for Bulega, who leaves France with the pole, three victories and a title that could be sentenced in Cremona at the end of the month.
