2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the Yamaha Ténéré, a proud accomplishment for Team Blue. As part of the year-long celebration, Yamaha Europe hosted the Ténéré Travel Trophy 2023 in June, inviting Ténéré riders to participate in a weeklong journey across France, Andorra, and Spain.
It’s the first year for this event—but it went so well, it likely won’t be the last. Over 100 riders gathered to participate in this inaugural event, which lasted from June 10 through 17, 2023. The plan, according to Yamaha, was to encourage riders to challenge themselves—but only as far as they felt comfortable. Thus, both off-road and on-road experiences were available, with every rider able to choose the kind of experience they wanted to have along the way.
Each day was filled with travel stages, but riders had plenty of latitude to decide how they wanted to tackle them. Some riders prefer to power through and get as far and as quickly as possible. Others want to take the time to stop, see the sights, have a snack, and enjoy their surroundings. This event was designed to cater to both ends of the spectrum, as well as everything in between.
Gallery: 2023 Yamaha Ténéré Travel Trophy
Completing the Ténéré Travel Trophy 2023 was the goal, of course—but it was also possible to become the number one Ténéré Traveler. Different tasks along the way rewarded participants with different amounts of points, so anyone interested in that type of competition could play along.
The idea, says Yamaha, was to create the fun and camaraderie of a rally—but without the stress of the racing portion. Riders were encouraged to complete each day’s ride at their own pace. Obviously, you could set a quick time for your own purposes if you wanted to—but the stages themselves weren’t being timed by event organizers, so that would only be for a rider’s own personal experience.
Once at the bivouac each night, riders had the choice of camping in a tent, or booking a room if they preferred to stay indoors. Yamaha Europe referred to the bivouac experience as Ténéré Town, which has a certain kind of charm that no doubt put a smile on the face of the Ténéré owners participating.
Did you participate in this year’s Ténéré Trophy? If you had the chance, does it look like something you’d like to do? Let us know in the comments!
