Despite a chaotic BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal marked by his CFORCE G3 basically falling apart and inclement weather, Antanas Kanopkinas’ 2026 campaign got off to a good start as he claimed the Quad victory over CFMOTO teammate Adomas Gančierius.
Kanopkinas had narrowly missed out on the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship by just five points. With champion Gaëtan Martinez going his own way, Gančierius—who last did a W2RC race in 2023—became Kanopkinas’ new rival-slash-teammate.
The CFMOTO duo and Alexis Varagne were the only Quad riders entered for Portugal, the first race of the W2RC season for the class since quads aren’t part of the Dakar Rally. Since Kanopkinas and Gančierius are factory riders whereas Varagne is a privateer, it seemed likely that CFMOTO would lead the way.
Indeed, that was what happened as the two racked up stage wins while Varagne generally ran third. Kanopkinas won Stage 1 by 1:54 on Gančierius while Varagne was 19:35 back of him. Varagne was over 12 minutes behind the leader in Stage 3 and 28:24 the day after.
Mind you, this didn’t mean Varagne was finishing a distant last every day while the CFMOTOs laughed their ways to the bank. Kanopkinas and Gančierius had plenty of issues themselves.
Stage 2 was particularly messy for Kanopkinas when he clipped a tree, losing lost two CV joint boots and the exhaust as well as bending the rear suspension arm. The latter was further damaged when he briefly caught air and had a hard landing. While Kanopkinas won the next day, he experienced another scare when the exhaust broke off and generated so much heat that he couldn’t go full throttle.
Understandably, he and Gančierius often rode together to the finish in case something broke. Gančierius even towed Kanopkinas to the end of Stage 2, taking the overall lead in the process.
Amid Kanopkinas’ issues, Gančierius would lose out in the end when he arrived late to the Stage 4 bivouac and received a 74-minute penalty. 15 minutes were tacked on for an engine change, effectively guaranteeing Kanopkinas the overall win barring disaster on the last day that never came.
With Kanopkinas riding more conservatively on the final leg—though it didn’t stop him from nearly tipping his quad at one point—and Gančierius accompanying him, Varagne seized the opportunity to take his maiden W2RC stage win.
“There are so many thoughts in your head: you ride, you think, you dream, you see a speed limit sign, and it turns out it’s still a kilometer away,” said Kanopkinas.
“Everywhere there were fans, Adomas and I were putting on a drift show.”
Varagne became the first non-CFMOTO rider to win a Quad stage since Marek Łój won Stage 5 of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, a solid conclusion after electrical issues forced him out of Stage 2.
Results
| Finish | Overall | Number | Rider | Team | Total Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 | 171 | Antanas Kanopkinas | CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team | 13:44:02 | Leader |
| 2 | 27 | 173 | Adomas Gančierius | CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team | 15:09:00 | + 1:24:58 |
| 3 | 37 | 172 | Alexis Varagne | Team Sénégal | 44:11:06 | + 30:27:04 |
Stage winners
| Stage | Overall | Rider | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | 25 | Antanas Kanopkinas | 3:25.5 |
| Stage 1 | 23 | Antanas Kanopkinas | 1:53:29 |
| Stage 2 | 22 | Adomas Gančierius | 3:29:26 |
| Stage 3 | 26 | Antanas Kanopkinas | 3:23:26 |
| Stage 4 | 24 | Antanas Kanopkinas | 3:29:16 |
| Stage 5 | 23 | Alexis Varagne | 1:18:08 |
Featured image credit: CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team
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