Aprilia Tuareg Racing on the podium in the fifth stage of the 2025 Africa Eco Race 2025

The fifth stage, comprising a total of 629.37 km, took the riders from Laayoune to Dakhla, the final Moroccan stage ahead of the day of rest, crossing over typical Southern Moroccan desert landscapes. Once again, the day began on brand new trails which took the riders over the dunes, then continuing over an extremely fast route over vast stretches of compact sand.

Francesco Montanari recovered from the difficulties he had faced during the fourth stage, finishing the fifth stage second overall, just +2’30’’ behind the stage winner. It was a more complicated day for Jacopo Cerutti, who finished thirty-fifth overall after some navigational troubles. Nevertheless, thanks to the gap accumulated ahead of his closest follower in the previous stages, Cerutti is now back at the top of the overall standings with an advantage of +1’30’’. Marco Menichini also had to reckon with a few complications, finishing twenty-fourth overall, +33’55’’ behind the stage winner.

FRANCESCO MONTANARI
“Starting from behind, I found some tracks left by the riders ahead of me, and that allowed me to navigate well and make very few mistakes. It was still a complicated stage due to the dust and because I had to slow down to pass a lot of riders, otherwise, I would have been able to do even better. Navigation was complicated due to the poor visibility, but I’m pleased with the result and that I recovered positions in the overall standings.”

JACOPO CERUTTI 
“They replaced the navigation instrument the organisation had provided because it was not working and, unfortunately, it switched off on the second kilometre of the timed section stage. All I could do was accelerate and try to catch up to attack the rider ahead of me. I managed to catch him up on the thirtieth kilometre and then I followed him. Unfortunately, since I was unable to navigate, we got lost and it took an hour to find our way again. The positive side is that I was still able to close the gap I had behind my closest adversary, so we are back at the top of the standings. Now, we’ll take advantage of the day of rest to prepare as best we can and give one hundred percent in the sixth stage.”