Tour of Portugal - RESULTS, REPORT + IMAGE GALLERY

It’s been a big week for thirty odd RallyMoto members.

On April 17, they took to the start line of the Tour of Portugal Adventure Rally for a prologue stage which marked the beginning of the 5 day event. Excluding the 85km prologue (to determine the start positions for day one), riders had four full days of rallying to navigate, taking them over the highest peaks and through the most picturesque valleys of central Portugal.

A Last minute Re-route.

We as an organisation were thrown a real curveball just a couple of months before the start of the event, when we were informed that the hotel that was to serve as our accommodation and bivouac, had its roof blown off in a storm. We were therefore forced to move locations and rewrite all of the routes. This wasn’t a terrible thing, as it placed us in a hotel in the foothills of the Estrela mountains, in a fantastic location with far reaching views over Covilha and towards the Spanish border.

It’s a riders paradise around these parts, for both road and off-road enthusiasts. For the Tour of Portugal, we stuck primarily to the dirt, with each day racking up between 200-300kms of Portugal’s best off-road tracks.

The Results

The prologue stage established the start positions for day one of the rally, and Liam Lee on his Kove 450 completed it in the fastest time putting him in P1 for the following day. The following days saw the likes of Mikael Burglund, Shona Tams, Mark Ward and Enrico Telini hustling for the top positions, with Shona and Mikael scoring zero points on both day 2 and 3.

On day four, the three women on the Rally, Lenore, Shona and Fiona were amongst the first five off the start line. Unfortunately, Shona had an off in the first 30kms, resulting in a DNF for the event. She will undoubtably be back with vengeance after displaying such consistency in her riding and results throughout.

Another shout out to Michael Lelieveld, a repeat participant in the Tour of Portugal, who’s come a long way since his humble beginnings with RallyMoto and rallying in general.

Kudos to Enrico Telini for ranking 3rd place overall on his adventure bike.

And big love to Gary Evans, who’s attended every Tour of Portugal since its rebirth in 2023, who earned himself a trophy in Adventure Rally Class. Well deserved mate.

Rally Class:

1st – Mikeal Burglund – KTM 500EXC

2nd – Liam Lee – KOVE 450

3rd – Mark Ward – KTM 500EXC

ADVENTURE Rally Class:

1st – ENRICO TELINI – KTM 390 ADV

2nd – MARTIN SMIDT – YAMAHA T7

3rd – GARY EVANS – AJP PR7

“Brilliant laugh, great folks, top trails and some of the best riding I’ve done.

Thanks to all 🙏🙏”

Gary Evans

“What a week, thanks to the organising team for the best event yet, cracking routes and hotel choice, the bar has been set high. It was a great mix of returnees and new people, the camaraderie and social side was excellent so thanks to all of you for making it a great event. Don’t think I stopped laughing all week. I loved every minute of it. See you all at the next event”

Mark W

“This has been an eye opening experience for me. The camaraderie of rally riders is unbelievable.

Hopefully next time I’ll be more on the giving help side instead of the receiving help side.

Completing the rally means the world to me. Thank you everyone who helped me pick up my bike, fix my bike, and let me ride their bike.

Fiona Four Bikes”

Fiona Hu

Thanks to all riders, organisers and the wonderful hotel staff for another fantastic Tour of Portugal event. Next years dates are already being firmed up, so stay tuned for news coming very soon on the 2027 edition!

Tour of Portugal – RESULTS, REPORT + IMAGE GALLERY