Triumph Motorcycles has been dipping its feet deeper into the off-road world over the past three years, particularly in SuperMotocross and enduro. Unfortunately, as off-road product lead Scott Lanzi explained in 2025, the company currently doesn’t have the resources to expand into rally raid as well. Some enduro riders have approached Triumph about starting an official rally team while two-time Dakar winner Sam Sunderland is a brand ambassador, but as of now, don’t expect a factory-backed TF 450 at the start anytime soon.

Still, privateers were free to do it themselves. Albert Martín certainly took this to heart.

After racing a Husqvarna for much of his rally career, including his lone Dakar in 2024, Martín switched to the Triumph TF 450-E for the second half of the 2025 Copa TT 4 Estaciones and various enduros. His bike was provided by Triumph’s Spanish dealer.

As the “E” in its name suggests, the Triumph TF 450-E is a 450cc enduro bike. It is the steed of choice for Triumph Factory Racing Enduro Team in FIM SuperEnduro and AMA EnduroCross, while some like Martín and Joanna Modrzewska have configured it for cross-country rallies.

However, Martín is the first to bring one to a World Rally-Raid Championship event. He attached a 12-liter Acerbis fuel tank and a navigation tower, foam grips to protect his hands, a larger brake disc and caliper, and a spare airbag canister tucked inside the handlebars in case he used up his primaries.

Rally3 is for enduro bikes, meaning his classmates did the same on their KTM 450 EXC-Fs. Of course, KTM has an established track record for both disciplines whereas Triumph is virtually new to rallies.

Not that this would stop Martín. After all, he’s gone up against more than enough KTMs in his life, so what’s seven more?

It wasn’t even close. Martín was the fastest Rally3 rider by a full minute in the Prologue, and rapidly began to pull away from everyone else. Even an early crash and eating a 15-minute penalty for missing a waypoint in Stage 2 did little to blunt his progress as he won that stage by 16:15 over Murun Purevdorj.

Purevdorj won every Rally3 stage in the class at the Desafío Ruta 40, but had little answer for Martín in Morocco. He finally got one over the Triumph on Stage 4, when Martín lost his danger beacon and was given 17 minutes of penalties for missing a waypoint and exceeding the 130 km/h speed limit. While the penalties promoted Purevdorj to the stage win, it was only by 4:07. There was nearly an hour and a half between Martín and Purevdorj going into the final day.

Another stage win for Martín sealed the deal. Purevdorj finished the last stage in third and 30:30 behind Martín and Amnay Hajji, but still kept the margin of victory within two hours.

“Seeing Triumph at the top of the podium today makes it all worthwhile,” Martín said.

While coming up short of a second straight win, Purevdorj’s runner-up still meant he scored a podium in all three W2RC starts. The season-ending Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge typically doesn’t invite Rally3, meaning Purevdorj will have secured the championship by 11 points over Eduardo Alan.

Alan struggled with fatigue and dizziness from the heat, settling for sixth overall. Hajji placed fourth, able to represent his home country of Morocco after a prolonged nationality dispute.

Toni Vingut and Pierre Roques retired. Vingut bent the handlebar after crashing in Stage 1 and tried to proceed, but ultimately bowed out. Roques, racing Malle Moto, crashed at KM 200 on Stage 2 and broke his collarbone and two of his vertebrae, while also suffering a pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum.

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	35	175	Albert Martín	Triumph Spain	20:59:03	Leader
2	45	160	Murun Purevdorj	Xraids Experience	22:56:40	+ 1:57:37
3	61	165	Julien Favarel	Fuze Factory	24:53:20	+ 3:54:17
4	65	172	Amnay Hajji	Ytri Racing Team	25:04:48	+ 4:05:45
5	67	162	Richárd Hodola	Pedregà Team	25:26:39	+ 4:27:36
6	71	161	Eduardo Alan	Xraids Experience	26:37:17	+ 5:38:14
DNF	DNF	163	Toni Vingut	Visit Sant Antoni – Ibiza	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	169	Pierre Roques †	PMS99 – Sport Evolution	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Rider	Time
Prologue	47	Albert Martín	14:15.3
Stage 1	36	Albert Martín	3:20:18
Stage 2	48	Albert Martín	5:00:01
Stage 3	38	Albert Martín	5:19:17
Stage 4	40	Murun Purevdorj	4:31:20
Stage 5	34	Albert Martín	2:29:45

Featured image credit: Frédéric Le Floc’h / DPPI / ASO