Antonio Maio, the multi-time Portugese cross country champion took his guest ride on the Yamaha Ténéré to a stunning win on the first stage of the Addax Rally in Morocco. Heading into the second day with a lead of 2minutes 56 seconds, Maio adapted to the bigger bike effortlessly and made no navigation errors to announce his arrival in the paddock. Riding the new Yamaha Ténéré, the Dakar finisher impressed during his debut desert rally raid onboard the Ténéré 700 Rally, finishing the Prologue in third, before winning Stage 1 with a time of two hours, 10 minutes, and 31 seconds to lead the general classification by two minutes and 56 seconds. After the joy of winning Stage 1, his first-ever desert rally raid timed special on the Ténéré 700 Rally, sadly the second stage did not go so well. After riding strongly throughout the special, showing his potential and pace, he suffered a heavy crash with just over 50km to go. He managed to remount and finish the stage in sixth place, but after going to the hospital for medical checks, he retired from the rest of the rally and went back to Portugal for further medical checks. Maio said,“ I am absolutely devastated. After winning the opening stage, I was feeling very confident, and the bike was great. Sadly, while approaching the end of the second stage, I suffered from a crash. I took a hard hit, but managed to get back on the bike to finish the stage. Once I arrived at the bivouac, I was checked by the doctors, and although I felt okay, I had some pain in my back, so I went to the hospital for some checks. After this, and after speaking with the team, we felt it was best that I withdraw from the rally and fly back to Portugal for further assessment. I want to thank the team and Yamaha for this amazing opportunity. It was a dream come true to ride the official race bike, but now I will focus on recovering and being ready for the Africa Eco Race.”