(click “NEWS” tab to see all)

(click “G! VIDS” tab to see all)

(click “YT VIDS” tab to see all)

Elena De Cia is Aprilia Racing’s Strategy & Data Analysis Lead in MotoGP — a mathematician from the Dolomite foothills who turned a thesis on motorcycle trajectories into a career at the highest level of the sport.

EARLY YEARS

De Cia’s story begins in Feltre, in the Belluno province of northeastern Italy [1]. Growing up, she spent weekends watching Grand Prix races with her uncle — not a racer himself, but the person who first put MotoGP on her radar [1]. Her early professional ambitions ran in a different direction entirely: from elementary school, she dreamed of becoming a mathematics teacher and never imagined that the sport she watched on weekends would become the context in which she’d use that mathematics professionally [1].

She went on to study applied mathematics at the University of Padua [1]. The connection to motorcycles came through the work itself: her degree thesis focused on motorcycle trajectories, which was the detail that caught Aprilia’s attention. While she was studying, Aprilia managers were looking at the faculty for applied mathematicians [1]. After returning from an Erasmus exchange in Spain, she saw an advertisement for a thesis placement at a motorcycle company. “Al rientro dall’Erasmus in Spagna mi capitò di vedere gli annunci di un’azienda di moto che cercava un tesista. Io sono da sempre un’appassionata motociclista: benché l’idea mi allettasse, ero frenata, convinta che ci fossero troppe richieste e che io non sarei stata presa in considerazione.” [2] She applied anyway, and was selected. “Inaspettatamente fui scelta e così feci la tesi in Aprilia. Pensavo che fosse una bella esperienza ma destinata a finire: in realtà dopo la laurea sono rimasta in azienda, dove ho lavorato per diversi anni.” [2]

OTHER INTERESTS

She describes mathematics and MotoGP as twin passions, and rides her own motorcycle when she has the time [1]. Beyond that, she has said she is proud to demonstrate that applied mathematics can lead to professional contexts people might not have imagined — including, evidently, the pit lane at a MotoGP Grand Prix [1].

EARLY SUCCESS

What began as a thesis placement at Aprilia became a multi-year position. After graduating, she stayed with the company and moved progressively through technical areas including dynamic simulation, development optimisation, strategies, and analysis [1]. From 2015 to 2017, she worked on test-team strategy at Aprilia Racing [3]. In 2017, she left Aprilia for Team Suzuki Ecstar’s MotoGP programme, where she spent approximately two years [4]. She was sometimes the only woman present in meetings during her time in Japan with Suzuki, though she has said she never felt discriminated against in those rooms [1]. Her position on that: when people are talking about technical matters, cultural and gender barriers tend to disappear [1].

In December 2019, she returned to Aprilia Racing, where she was listed as Control Strategies and Model Support Manager [3]. By the time MotoGP profiled her in May 2021, she was confirmed as the person responsible for Aprilia’s race strategies [1]. By 2026, her title had evolved to Strategy & Data Analysis Lead [5].

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2019: Returned to Aprilia Racing as Control Strategies and Model Support Manager, formalising a strategy function she had been building within the team [3].
• 2021: Featured by MotoGP in a profile documenting her technical role in the championship, one of a series of pieces recognising women working across the paddock [1].
• 2022: Included in MotoGP’s “Celebrating the women working in MotoGP™” feature [6].
• 2026: Identified by MotoGP as Aprilia Racing’s Strategy & Data Analysis Lead; her work during the Thai Grand Prix weekend was highlighted in coverage of the event, in which Aprilia placed four bikes in the top five and Marco Bezzecchi took the race win [5] [7].

INSPIRATIONS

Her uncle’s habit of watching Grand Prix racing on weekends was the original spark [1]. That early exposure became something more durable: she has said that being a genuine MotoGP fan gives her an extra motivation at work — that the sport is not just a job but something she was drawn to long before the job existed [1].

REPUTATION

MotoGP has featured De Cia in its coverage of women working in the championship on multiple occasions — a 2021 profile on her technical role [1], a 2022 feature celebrating women across the paddock [6], and a 2026 video produced around the Thai Grand Prix weekend documenting women driving motorsport forward [5]. The Italian publication Il Fatto Quotidiano also covered her contribution to Aprilia’s strategy operation in 2026, in the context of Bezzecchi’s win and the team’s wider performance at the Thai Grand Prix [7]. She is one of a small number of women occupying senior technical strategy roles in MotoGP, and the official championship has consistently identified her as a figure worth documenting in that context [1].

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of 2026, De Cia continues in her role as Aprilia Racing’s Strategy & Data Analysis Lead [5]. No specific future plans or announced role changes have been documented in available sources.

References:

[1] MotoGP — “When it comes to technical aspects, barriers disappear” (May 2021)
[2] Zanichelli Orientamento — “Quando la matematica scende in pista” (March 2022)
[3] LinkedIn — Elena De Cia profile
[4] IDN Times — “5 Perempuan Tangguh di MotoGP”
[5] MotoGP — “Building Speed: Las mujeres que impulsan el motorsport” (September 2026)
[6] MotoGP — “Celebrating the women working in MotoGP™” (March 2022)
[7] Il Fatto Quotidiano — Elena De Cia, Aprilia MotoGP, strategia matematica (March 2026)