2025 Ténéré Rally
The annual Ténéré Rally tackled the challenging trails of the Victorian High Country for 2025, in an epic five-day tour, with 50 riders enjoying a wide range of dirt roads, twin tracks and tar with spectacular views and pitstops at iconic spots such as Craig’s Hut, Woods Point and the Blue Rag trig.
The event kicked off at the Bright Brewery with a welcome dinner where rallygoers would be the first Aussies to check out the new model 2025 Ténéré 700 featuring a host of updates. A fully GYTR-kitted Ténéré was also on display and Dunlop exhibited its range of adventure tyres.
Special guest riders included Yamaha ambassador Stephen Gall who is celebrating 50 years with the tuning fork brand and Yamaha Factory Racing Rally rider Rodney Faggotter.
Rod chatted to rallygoers about his racing exploits in Dakar and what the race version of the Ténéré World Raid is like to ride, while Stephen offered valuable riding tips to tackle steep and rocky conditions. American rider Brady from @meerkatADV joined the RideADV crew as a special guest and talked about US adventure riding conditions.
The Rally is GPS-based which means you get to ride at your own pace and the course, which is set by YMA’s preferred tour operator Ride ADV, offered the option of standard and special routes. Most riders opted for the special map and day one delivered the goods.
Rod Faggotter joined the sweep riders to assist riders up the first loose and rocky hillclimb of the day that caught out many. That technical climb set a benchmark for the event and turned out to be the toughest challenge – until the legendary Blue Rag trail on day four. The climb to the trig is steep, rocky and mostly whooped out by 4WDs. And was purely optional for the Ténéré rallygoers.
Superb weather greeted the riders as they took in High Country beauty spots such as Craig’s Hut, Woods Point and the gold mining village Walhalla. Overnight stops at Mansfield and Dinner Plain allowed loop rides out of both venues and each night riders enjoyed a group meal to discuss the day’s action.
Rain did eventually drop on the evening of day four and combined with thick fog forced day five onto the tar. But the event had already delivered so much ADV fun that the Ténéré spirit remained high.
Sean Goldhawk – YMA Land Mobility Marketing Manager
“The 2025 Ténéré Rally once again delivered a memorable adventure ride experience. With steep and rocky tracks, the High Country is not for the faint-hearted and I take my hat off to all who tackled the tough trails. But the Rally is not just about the ride, it’s about joining up with old mates and meeting new ones. Hearing riders’ stories, checking out other Ténérés and learning more about setup and which accessories to fit – it all adds up to a great week away.”
The Yamaha Ténéré Rally is open to owners of any model Ténéré from the original 1983 XT600Z to the XTZ1200 Super Ténéré and all models in between. Look out for information on the 2026 Ténéré Rally coming soon…
Winners are grinners – recipients of a range of Yamaha merch
- Best ADV set up – Ben Dickinson
- Furthest ridden – Henry Willersdorf
- Most deserving rider – Scott Turner
- Donkey award – Steven Parish
- Most blinged Ténéré – Jeremy Adams
