Feast your eyes on the 2026 Yamaha Tenere 700 Rally GYTR-kitted race bike the Tenere Yamaha Rally Team built for Gautier Paulin for Africa Eco Race to Dakar and, while you’re here, take a walk along the Yamaha Tenere timeline.

An historic one-two for Yamaha at the Africa Eco Race 2026 with Kevin Gallas and Gautier Paulin – both rookies at this race – inspired us to take a closer look at the official race bike of the Tenere Yamaha Rally Team.

Race winner, Kevin Gallas rode the Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing (GYTR) kitted version of the Yamaha Tenere 700 Rally to victory at the 2026 Africa Eco Race, a milestone achievement for the former SuperEnduro Junior World Champion.

Alongside him on the podium was former MXGP rider Gautier Paulin on the bike featured, the GYTR saucy source for all those GYTR development and parts full-specced in race guise.

If you’re into your bike sport this is the equivalent of an R1 in Superbike race trim and primed for the task of making the T7 as good as it can be for the sport of rally-raid.

It’s very much. Of the now but also a race bike which harks back to the history of rally and adventure riding and Yamaha’s heyday at the Dakar with YZE and XTZ 850 models.

So feast your eyes on the images of the 2026 race bike above but also check out our walk along the Tenere timeline, beginning with the first big tank XT600 and how it links through to the present.

Yamaha Tenere history

Yamaha’s off-road big bike timeline for rally, trail and ultimately adventure riding stretches back to the early 1980s and the original XT600 Tenere. It is one of the very few original machines from any manufacturer which made long-distance adventures on two wheels a reality.

Developed by Jean-Claude Olivier from the XT500, Cyril Neveu rode the XT600 Tenere to victory in the first two Paris-Dakar rallies in 1979 and 1980. The bike boasted a 600cc single cylinder engine, a 30-litre fuel tank, a front disc brake (the first on a Yamaha off-road model), Monocross suspension, and an aluminium swingarm. This was cutting edge at the time.

As ever, riders sought more power and the twin-cylinder XTZ750 Super Tenere was the answer. It is iconic but the factory YZE750T race version for the Dakar is legendary and from 1990 began a golden era for Yamaha in Rally.

Mr Dakar

Stephane Peterhansel rode the YZE750T to the first of his six bike Paris-Dakar titles, with Yamaha securing a podium lockout for the first time that year, 1991.

This bike was developed into the factory YZE850T in 1992 and later, the production XTZ850R and XTZ850TRX with which Yamaha dominated the Paris-Dakar during the 1990s, winning six of the next seven races. Peterhansel cemented his legacy with victory in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998, while Edi Orioli secured the crown in 1996, all on factory YZE850Ts.

That 850 model was something of a pioneer also as the sport and Dakar rules evolved. Manufacturers had to support privateers and a rule requiring 15 or more models be sold on the general market. So you could buy one for 140,000 French Francs.

Engine type: Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, DOHC 5-valve, in-line 2-cylinder, 849cm³

Fuel tank capacity: 38L+12L

Weight: 210kg

Tenere as we know it is born

The know-how and technology gained through all this was later applied to the XT660Z Tenere – an underrated bike in our view – and the lardy XT1200Z Super Tenere models that eventually established the Tenere brand name of Yamaha machines.

Powered by one of the best and most versatile twin-cylinder motors on the planet, Yamaha’s CP2 engine, housed in a tough yet lightweight steel frame designed to be ridden in any terrain, the Tenere 700 took things to a new level. It has since become one of Yamah’s most successful bikes ever.

Tenere 700 Rally

The Tenere 700 is available in many model guises, but it is the Rally edition which the Tenere Yamaha Rally Team base their bike upon (and helped develop) – much like those XTZ models all those years ago in the ‘80s.

The Tenere Rally Team bikes are working horses for Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing (GYTR) research and development. Yamaha Motor Europe in collaboration with the Tenere World Rally Team and riders like Pol Tarres, Alessandro Botturi and Gautier Paulin develop the range of parts available from parts and accessories.

It’s a long list but stretches through everything from increased power, reduced weight in the engine and chassis, tuned ECU, the race bodywork and fuel tanks, handlebars, footpegs, exhaust, air intake, the upgraded suspension, clutch and brakes, plus the rally-raid tower and race wiring loom, switches and lights.

More details on GYTR upgrades for your bike:

GYTR handling kit (brakes, wheels and suspension): www.yamaha-racing.com/gytr/gytr-adventure-kits/gytr-handling-kit/   

GYTR rally kit here (fuel tanks, wiring and switchgear, body work): www.yamaha-racing.com/gytr/gytr-adventure-kits/gytr-rally-kit/

GYTR performance kit (exhaust, airfilter): www.yamaha-racing.com/gytr/gytr-adventure-kits/gytr-performance-kit/  

Photo Credit: Edo Photo | Irina Petrichei