Barring more retirements (as was the case on Wednesday), the 2025 Africa Eco Race’s bike victory is looking like a duel between Aprilia and Yamaha. After narrowly losing the Stage #2 win to Yamaha’s Alessandro Botturi, Jacopo Cerruti fought back to beat him by 3:19 for Thursday’s victory.

Stage #3, the second longest of the race and running through the oasis of Touizgui, presented timed sections that were new to the AER. Botturi entered the day leading Cerruti by 1:57, only for the margin to be wiped away as he had to figure out the route on his own. The two even rode together during longer sections while having what Botturi called “a great battle with my main rival.”

Cerruti now leads the overall again, holding a 1:22 advantage over Botturi and his Aprilia colleague Francesco Montanari.

“I pushed straight away and was able to close the gap, catching up to the rider ahead of me. I also managed to win in spite of how hard this stage was,” Cerruti explained. “I remember from last year that this was one of the most difficult stages and it proved to be demanding again this year with all the rocks and the many rough trails. I am satisfied with the way the bike is performing. It has proven once again to be competitive on such difficult terrain.”

Two-time AER winner Pål Anders Ullevålseter dominated 450cc, beating Stages #1 and #2 winner Guillaume Borne by 14:49 to take the overall class lead after going into the day in third. He also moved up from sixth among all bikes to fourth, two minutes back of Montanari.

Tomáš Ouředníček scored his first career AER stage win in T1.1 despite having to slow down at times due to his differential—which had been struggling since the start of the race—overheating.

“We handled the feared Chigaga dunes perfectly, even passing two cars there,” he proclaimed. “However, in the next section, we were stuck behind a buggy kicking up a lot of dust. In the haze, we missed a stone wall and hit it sideways; it wasn’t anything terminal and we were able to continue. After about 160 kilometers, we managed to overtake the buggy, and from then on, we had a clear track to the finish, which allowed us to drive very well.”

Although he arrived at the finish well after Ouředníček, car overall leader Benoit Fretin remained atop the leaderboard. Fretin had stopped to assist a rider who crashed, which got 1:23:37 slashed from his time.

Francesco Puocci, who had been leading Over 450cc, retired after crashing and hurting his ribs. Andrea Perfetti stopped to assist him.

Stage #3 winners

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
450cc	4	2	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	Norwit Racing	6:32:25
Over 450cc	60	62	Junichi Oshitamoto	SMRP with Bivouac Osaka	30:25:00
Multi-Cylinder (650cc–1000cc)	1	1	Jacopo Cerruti	Aprilia Racing GCorce	6:08:21
Multi-Cylinder (Over 1000cc)	11	5	Joan Pedrero	Harley-Davidson	7:02:03
Quad	57	99	Laurent Hellemans	Hellau	24:25:00

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
T1.1	2	207	Tomáš Ouředníček	Toyota Gazoo Racing Czech	6:11:57
T1.3	1	200	Benoit Fretin	Century Racing	6:04:10
T5.1	8	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	7:45:49
SSV	4	251	Pierre Lafay	Team Gazzafond	6:29:27

Leaders after Stage #3

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
450cc	4	2	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	Norwit Racing	11:45:54
Over 450cc	66	19	Junichi Oshitamoto	SMRP with Bivouac Osaka	71:45:00
Multi-Cylinder (650cc–1000cc)	1	3	Alesandro Botturi	Yamaha Ténéré World Raid Team	10:34:32
Multi-Cylinder (Over 1000cc)	9	5	Joan Pedrero	Harley-Davidson	12:16:16
Quad	67	99	Laurent Hellemans	Hellau	46:52:29

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
T1.1	2	201	Vincent Vroninks	QFF Racing	11:02:16
T1.3	1	200	Benoit Fretin	Century Racing	10:37:13
T5.1	8	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	13:22:15
SSV	4	251	Pierre Lafay	Team Gazzafond	11:16:50

Featured image credit: Piaggio Group