Thomas Marini’s Stage 9 retirement left Jean-Loup Lepan facing down an onslaught of multi-cylinders in the Africa Eco Race overall. While he had a relatively safe margin going into Thursday’s leg, he couldn’t afford many missteps against the more powerful bikes.

So of course, that’s exactly what happened.

Stage 10 was basically nothing more than an advertisement for the Yamaha Ténéré 700, which finished 1–2–3–4–5 for the day. Gautier Paulin led the way with 8:24 on Mike Wiedemann followed by Alessandro Botturi, Kevin Gallas, and António Maio. All but Maio set a stage time below five hours, with Maio just 23 seconds over.

Although he was fastest through the first split, Lepan struggled the rest of the way and finished 14th overall to lose the overall lead. He’s still atop the 450cc standings, but falls to third and 22:09 behind new outright leader Paulin. Gallas is 1:25 back of his Yamaha teammate.

Noa Sainct scored his first AER stage win for the 450cc bikes, breaking up the multi-cylinder party with a sixth. If not for him, Over 650cc motorcycles would’ve locked out the top six with Marco Menichini’s Aprilia, whom Sainct beat by 2:38.

Lepan wasn’t the only one having a tough go in the dunes. They got so bad that even one of the race’s service trucks got stuck, so another service truck had to come rescue it.

While Stage 10 is officially the third-to-last, it’s the penultimate timed leg since Stage 12 does not count for the overall.

With Stage 11 being the final one that matters, Paulin will hope to hold off Gallas for the bike overall. David Gérard has a relatively safe margin of 13:49 for the car overall ahead of Christian Femont, though he knows he can’t get complacent. Martijn van den Broek has a comfortable 52:15 on Martin Benko in SSV.

Stage 10 winners

Bike

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
450cc	6	184	Noa Sainct	Team DAK’CAR	5:04:01
Over 450cc	31	122	Andrea Vignone	Motosystem #BeCrazy Reparto Corse	6:15:40
Over 650cc	1	21	Gautier Paulin	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	4:41:42
Electric	69	100	Cyril Forget	CFR Endurance	21:00:00
Quad	64	97	Alexis Varagne	Team Sénégal	18:15:00

Car

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	2	207	Tomáš Ouředníček	Toyota Gazoo Racing Czech	4:40:59
T1.1	4	200	Vincent Vroninks	Desert Lions Rally Team	5:16:38
T1.2	1	236	Andrea Schiumarini	R Team	4:34:40
Open	10	210	Cédric Feryn	Feryn Rally Raid Team	17:10:00

SSV

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
SSV	4	285	Eric Bernard	Vendée Team	5:11:47
T3	2	253	Jérôme Cambier	Jérôme Cambier	5:05:54
T4	1	275	Martijn van den Broek	QFF Racing	5:03:18

Truck

Class	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	405	Mike Panhuijzen	Greenteam Panhuijzen	16:55:00

Leaders after Stage 10

Bike

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
450cc	3	176	Jean-Loup Lepan	RC Assistance	28:27:20
Over 450cc	22	13	Alexandre Azinhais	Club Aventura Touareg	46:47:15
Over 650cc	1	21	Gautier Paulin	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	38:05:11
Electric	75	100	Cyril Forget	CFR Endurance	197:53:40
Quad	71	97	Alexis Varagne	Team Sénégal	116:56:46

Car

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	2	215	Christian Femont	Desert Foxx Racing	38:08:54
T1.1	4	200	Vincent Vroninks	Desert Lions Rally Team	39:45:21
T1.2	1	201	David Gérard	Nominoe Aventures / Les Fous du Volant / MD Rallye	37:55:05
Open	11	210	Cédric Feryn	Feryn Rally Raid Team	105:57:30

SSV

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
SSV	4	285	Eric Bernard	Vendée Team	42:58:34
T3	2	299	Martin Benko	Norwit Racing	41:23:56
T4	1	275	Martijn van den Broek	QFF Racing	40:31:41

Truck

Class	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	59:45:02

Featured image credit: Yamaha Racing