100 Years and Still the Most Italian Thing on Two Wheels
One hundred years. Not many motorcycle manufacturers can say that and fewer still can say they spent a century doing things entirely on their own terms.
On 4 July 1926, Ducati was founded in Bologna, also home to Tortellini and Mortadella, which means the Italians have been perfecting things worth obsessing over in that city for a very long time. On 4 July 2026, thousands of Ducatisti descended on the Misano World Circuit to celebrate exactly that, and by all accounts, it looked like one of those moments you'd genuinely regret missing.
World Ducati Week's Centenary Edition kicked off this weekend with the kind of spectacle only Ducati pulls off. Aussies Casey Stoner and Troy Bayliss, with Carl Fogarty, and Loris Capirossi on track alongside Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez for the Lap of Honour. A parade of motorcycles snaking from the circuit along the Riviera Romagnola to Riccione for a beach party at sunset.
The full Collezione 100 on display in the paddock, ten contemporary Ducati models, each wearing a reinterpreted livery from a defining moment in the brand's history, and each strictly limited to just 100 numbered units. From the glitter silver of the 1972 Imola-winning 750 Desmo reimagined on the Panigale V4 S, to the iconic black and gold Darmah-inspired Streetfighter V4 S, to the California Hot Rod race-winning colours on the XDiavel V4 it's a collection that tells 100 years of Ducati history one livery at a time.
Oh, and they used their own birthday to unveil a new bike. Of course they did. The Desmo450 SM, Ducati's first ever Supermotard, was revealed on the main stage with multiple world champion Marc Reiner Schmidt in attendance. Full details drop in September, arriving in dealerships October. That one's going to stir things up.
The Lenovo Race of Champions is scheduled for Sunday, with MotoGP, WorldSBK and national championship protagonists all competing on one-of-a-kind Panigale V4 Tricolore models. Nicolò Bulega grabbed pole ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri and Bagnaia, we'll have the result up once it's confirmed.
To mark the occasion, this week's video on the Biker Torque YouTube channel is my first ride review of the Ducati XDiavel V4 and I'm calling it exactly what it is: completely unhinged.
168 horsepower. Feet-forward controls. A 240mm rear tyre. A Gran Turismo V4 engine that shouldn't belong anywhere near a cruiser. And yet here we are, because Ducati genuinely does not care about categories. It handles like a sports bike, looks like nothing else on the road, and makes absolutely zero logical sense, which is precisely why it's so much fun to ride.
Go check it out on the channel. It might be the best kind of bike that makes no sense. Maybe next time they'll lend us the Collezione 100 version based of the livery off the 1977 750 Supersport, although I won't hold my breath.
One hundred years in, and Ducati are still doing things completely their own way.
Long may it continue.