Aprilia Tuareg 660 Dominates Race To Dakar Second Year In A Row
12 grueling stages over 6,000 km ends with a nail biting Aprilia vs. Yamaha finish.

Tracing the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally and Thierry Sabine’s legacy, the Africa Eco Race has come to be known as “The Real Race to Dakar” in recent years. Spanning 14 days and 12 challenging stages, this rally raid covers roughly 6,000 km of unforgiving terrain. Moreover, winning has been traditionally reserved for top riders on purpose-built 450 rally bikes.
But that hasn’t stopped Aprilia who last year surprised everyone with a debut win at the Africa Eco race aboard the Tuareg 660. They have now repeated their impressive overall victory in the 2025 edition, winning not only the multi-cylinder class but yes, also the whole race. Notably, this is only their second major African rally raid on the twin-cylinder machine.

Racing the Tuareg to the top podium was Italian rider Jacopo Cerutti who beat Alessandro Botturi on the Tenere 700 by a mere 26 seconds. The duel was thrilling as the two riders took on the last stage with only 9 seconds separating them in the overall standings. The two Italian riders fought for every mile, and when Cerutti crossed the finish line, he counted the seconds while waiting for Botturi’s arrival. Botturi, besides a slight navigation error, found himself stuck in a net that he dragged to the finish line without being able to get rid of it. Third overall was Guillaume Borne, piloting a Husqvarna FR 450 Rally.

Jacopo Cerutti conquered the grueling race despite significant challenges such a gastrointestinal virus, issues with the mousse in his rear tire and navigation instruments not working. Overcoming all these obstacles, Cerutti defended his title all the way to the last mile, taking five stage victories and another two podiums.
“Winning the Africa Eco Race for the second consecutive year is a dream. We had an outstanding advantage in the sand, both because of my riding style and the performance of the Tuareg Rally, and I was able to exploit it fully. It was an edition where strategy was fundamental and, in the last two days, I accomplished an undertaking that even I did not think possible. Congratulations also to Alessandro Botturi, it was great to have an opponent like him and to fight to the end.” – Jacopo Cerutti.

Joining Cerutti was Marco Menichini, who made his debut with the Tuareg and took victory in the Junior Under 25 class and sixth overall, as well as third place in the multi cylinder class, adding one more trophy to Team Aprilia Tuareg Racing’s collection in the Africa Eco Race.

Yamaha star Pol Tarres was also competing in this edition of the Africa Eco Race but suffered a crash at Kilometer 111 of stage 2 while fighting for the win. Unfortunately, he lost consciousness for several minutes and had to be airlifted to safety. While Pol was unable to continue the race, luckily he is safe and recovering from his injuries.
The sixteenth edition of the Africa Eco Race covered almost 6,000 km, crossing over the breathtaking landscape of Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal. It was a gruelling route that put riders and bikes through a difficult test. The last stage took participants towards the banks of the legendary Lac Rose, marking the conclusion of this extraordinary 2025 edition.

Tuareg 660 Rally
Like in the previous year, the racing Tuaregs were prepped to conquer the desert in collaboration with the Guareschi Brothers’ GCorse. And although these competition bikes are significantly altered, it is from those testing grounds that Aprilia will bring to the public the Tuareg 660 Rally which will include heavy-duty spoked wheels with Ergal narrow rims, a dedicated SC Project exhaust system, revised suspension, less weight, a new engine map and more.

According to Aprilia, the Tuareg 660 Rally is expected to hit dealer floors in May 2025 with an MSRP starting at $14,499 USD ($17,195 CAD). Check out the details here.
Photos by Aprilia and Africa Eco Race
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Aprilia did a great job, and Yamaha too.
The headline isn’t fair, Aprilia didn’t dominate the race, they won it for a few seconds.
That is misleading …please tell us what machines the Tuareg was racing against…the Tuareg has no chance of winning against real race machines, so what did they beat? kinda feels like a marketing blog without proper context…just saying.
Seemed pretty clear to me. The article explains AER is raced by 450 rally bikes. And yes, the Tuareg roosted them all snatching the overall victory.
Well Bill, sorry to burst your bubble but the Tuareg did beat the other rally bikes.
Fake News-Lookup Dakar Rally and you’ll see HONDA and KTM dominated the race.
The Africa Eco Race and the the Dakar Rally are different races, genius.