Africa Eco Race: A new queen—Yamaha Ténéré makes history; Aprilia Tuareg bows

Historic Yamaha one-two at the Africa Eco Race with its Ténérés; the hat trick eludes Jacopo Cerruti and the Aprilia Tuareg.

On one side, the missed hat trick after two dominant editions; on the other, history is made. The 2026 Africa Eco Race has in fact seen the first historic Yamaha triumph thanks to the Ténérés ridden by Kevin Gallas, super enduro ace and new champion, and by Gautier Paulin, a superb 2nd place for the former MXGP rider and five-time Motocross of Nations winner, in what can be defined as the true heir to the Dakar Rally Raid as envisioned by Thierry Sabine. No luck this year either for Alessandro Botturi, who finished 7th overall. Aprilia isn’t celebrating this time: buoyed by the successes of the last two editions with a superb Tuareg Rally, they take home 5th overall with the defending champion Jacopo Cerutti. An edition also marked by bereavement: the passing of Robert van Pelt Sr., who was competing in the Africa Eco Race alongside his son, Robert van Pelt Jr. He began to feel ill during Stage 7 and never recovered: yesterday, February 7, on the occasion of the final parade to Lac Rose, he would have turned 67.

The 2026 Africa Eco Race will go down in history as an edition dominated by the Ténéré, with the twin-cylinder adventure bike and the Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team ruling one of the most brutal rally raids on the planet.

The Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team, in collaboration with Riders for Health (supported by Two Wheels for Life), rewrote the record book. Ténéré Spirit Experience (TSE) rider Kevin Gallas was crowned overall champion, while Gautier Paulin secured second place. And the records didn’t stop there, with five Ténérés in the top seven overall and a clean sweep of the podium in the Over 650cc class.

With Gallas’s coronation, this is the first time a Ténéré has climbed to the top step at the Africa Eco Race. A stylish victory, edging out teammate Paulin by just 41 seconds, alongside two stage wins and three further podiums. The former French motocross ace shone just as brightly: Gautier Paulin, a rally raid rookie and in his first Africa Eco Race on a motorcycle, claimed three stage wins and another podium.

Bad luck struck Alessandro Botturi again this year: a technical issue on Stage 4 cost him over an hour, effectively ending any chance of breaking the “curse” of that third AER title that just won’t come. After Stage 4 he focused solely on helping his teammates, still bagging a stage win and two more podiums during the event, for seventh overall.

That’s not all: Mike Wiedemann and António Maio also stood out. The former took three stage podiums, finishing the rally fourth overall, while the latter added two more podiums for Yamaha, finishing sixth overall. For the Ténérés, that makes a total of six stage wins and 11 additional podiums. Among other highlights were the solo sweep of the top five in Stage 10, one of the rally’s toughest, and the climb of seven positions overall, thanks to Nicolas Charlier (8th in the Over 650cc category) and Bertrand Gavard (9th in the Over 650cc category), placing two more riders among the top nine in class.

The traditional parade along the shores of Lac Rose concludes the seventeenth edition of the Africa Eco Race, with the Aprilia Tuareg Rally, GCorse and Jacopo Cerutti in fourth place in the twin-cylinder class and fifth overall, with one stage win and one class win to their name. In his second outing with the Aprilia Tuareg Rally, Marco Menichini finishes seventh in the +650 class and eighth overall. Menichini stood out for his consistency, particularly in the second half of the race, where he took a fourth place in class on Stage 7. Lastly, Francesco Montanari wraps up the 2026 Africa Eco Race in eleventh place in the class standings at the end of a race also affected by a retirement during Stage 4.

“Bringing all three bikes here to Lac Rose is always great; it means we finished the race, and that’s what matters,” said Vittoriano Guareschi, who heads the GCorse team with his brother Gianfranco, seeing the glass half full. “This year’s Africa Eco Race was different from the previous two editions: overall it was tougher, with stages that were truly demanding, both physically for the riders and for the bikes. In addition, the general level rose a lot and our rivals also showed up in top form. Up to Mauritania we were among the frontrunners, then things didn’t go as we expected. But in the end we reacted, and in yesterday’s stage we returned to the positions we were used to, showing that we still know we can be competitive. We’ve learned important lessons on how to improve ahead of the next competitions.”

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