First the Aprilia Tuareg Rally of Jacopo Cerutti from Lecco followed by the Yamaha Ténéré of Alessandro Botturi from Brescia, only 26 seconds behind after 6,000 km of race. Frenchman Guillame on Husqvarna was third at over two and a half hours
Thanks to a sensational comeback victory in the eleventh or second time in a row, theAfrica Eco Racethe prestigious rally raid African organized by Dakar legend Herbert Auriol. The 35 year old from Lecco Jacopo Cerutti he thus brought his success back Aprilia Tuareg Rally after a sensational and prolonged duel with the 49-year-old Alessandro Botturi and his Yamaha Ténéréultimately overtaken in the standings by just 26” during the last time trial stage. The two Italian drivers gave life to a gripping and exciting duel that goes down in the annals of the race not only for the narrow final margin, but also for the abysmal gap inflicted on all the rest of the competition.
the decisive stage
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After a race full of twists and turns, with both contenders encountering navigation errors which were then recovered during a comeback, Cerutti and Botturi presented themselves at the start of the eleventh and decisive stage, the Nouakchott-Mpal Of 474 kmseparated in the standings by just 9″ in favor of Yamaha’s “giant from Brescia”. Cerutti, winner of the tenth stage the day before, started in front of his rival with the aim of imposing a very high pace, sufficient to close the small remaining gap. The head-to-head between the two was close, fought meter by meter, but fate also influenced the final result, with Botturi finding himself with a net stuck in his rear end which bothered him until the finish line. Cerutti thus won the stage by 35″ completing the overtaking also in the general ranking.
detach all the others
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The exciting duel between the two Italian drivers catalyzed all the attention of this year’s Africa Eco Race also due to the large margin soon accumulated over the rest of the group. The French Guillaume Borne on the Husqvarna 450 Fr, third on the stage 3’36” behind the winner, he took the last step of the overall podium with a gap of over 2h30′ from Cerutti. The Spaniard is less than a minute and a half behind him Martinez Boronat on the first Ktm while the gap of the fifth place, the Belgian Mathieu Liebaertis already close to three hours. Excellent sixth place finish for Marco Menichini with the other Aprilia Tuareg from the official Noale team while finishing in 13th place overall Giovanni Gritti on Honda, second in the “Veteran” class.
the joy of Jacopo Cerutti
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Once the final result was made official, a beaming Jacopo Cerutti thanked the entire team Aprilia Racing for the work done and for having written one of the most exciting pages in the history of the race: “This success has a special flavor – he explained immediately – today I started really strong and I knew I had to give my all to make up for the disadvantage. It was one tough race, full of unexpected events, but together with the team we were able to react in every situation. I dedicate this victory to the whole team, who worked tirelessly. Winning the Africa Eco Race for the second consecutive year is a dream.”
the value of alessandro botturi
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Cerutti and Botturi were paired for the entire duration of the race despite the differences in bike and tires (with the Aprilia Metzeler and the rubberized Yamaha Dunlop), age and size. And the winner did not fail to make thehonor of arms to a Botturi who was nevertheless the author of a race as amazing as his: “I’m really happy for this victory, but I’m also sorry for Botturi, because we are great friends. These two weeks of racing have been fantastic, with ups and downs for both of us, and he deserved to win as much as I did. But in the end there can only be one winner.”
Africa Eco RAce 2025, Final ranking
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This is the final ranking of the 2025 edition of the Africa Eco Race:
Africa Eco Race 2025 – Final ranking
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