Face to face
bike
A repeat performance?
NUMBER 1 - GAULOISES KTM
Cyril Despres (FRA)
The Cyril Despres story is the stuff of dreams. A mechanic six years ago, he now finds himself in the role of title-holder for this 28th Euromilhoes Dakar. Aged 31, the Frenchman is indisputably the man to follow at the head of the race in the bike category, his whole 2005 season having largely confirmed his status as hot favourite.
Even when he embarked on his first Dakar in 2000, there was no doubt in the mind of this native of the Paris region that he would go on to become one of the top raid rally riders in the world. After some experience in endurance and trial (he was the first Frenchman to win the Trêfle Lozerien), he and a friend set out on their first Dakar as rank outsiders. While riders such as Richard Sainct and Nani Roma were already battling for victory, the newcomer Despres was continuing his apprenticeship, but that still didn’t prevent him from finishing 16th overall in the Cairo.
But it was the following year that Cyril the phenomenon was well and truly born. In the saddle of a Honda 650, he finished 3rd in the Tunisia rally, before tasting victory in its Moroccan equivalent! Courtesy of these outstanding results, he was snapped up by BMW as their 4th rider for the Dakar 2001. As water-carrier for Nani Roma, he earned the unexpected bonus of a 13th-place finish in the Dakar and, as the icing on the cake, a first African special win. For the Arras – Madrid – Dakar in 2002, Despres was recruited by the KTM armada, but after suffering a heavy fall due to a poorly positioned drainage channel, he was forced to pull out on Stage 7.
In 2003, for the Marseilles – Sharm El Sheik, the Seine-et-Marne region man confirmed the ambition he had displayed the previous year in Morocco and Tunisia. In winning three specials, he finished on the second step of the podium in Egypt, wedged between a pair of track legends, Richard Sainct and Fabrizio Meoni.
The following season, Cyril moved up a gear to take the 2003 raid rally world championship title. The KTM rider then continued to break through barriers, most notably by claiming victory in Morocco. On the back of these results, he went into the 2004 Dakar with the sole target of overall victory in mind. Courtesy of an exemplary start to the race and obvious strategic qualities, he had succeeded in taking first place overall by the seventh stage. The following day proved his undoing, however, as a “blank” day where everything that could go wrong did go wrong (GPS problem, running out of petrol) shattered his hopes of victory. Nevertheless, he still finished third in the Dakar.
Having sampled the lower two steps of the podium, Cyril Despres laid the foundations for his first Dakar triumph in 2005 on the Atar-Atar loop stage, where he built up a lead he retained for the remainder of the rally. The death the following day of Fabrizio Meoni only gave him added motivation to carry onwards and upwards the colours of the KTM Gauloises team, already reeling from the loss of Richard Sainct a few months earlier. Despite a penalty cutting his lead over Marc Coma two days from the finish, it was mission accomplished at last in the Dakar.
Cyril Despres’ Dakar honours
2005 Winner, Barcelona – Dakar (2 stage victories)
2004 3rd, Clermont-Ferrand – Dakar (4 stage victories)
2003 2nd, Telefonica-Dakar
2002 Abandoned, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2001 13th, Paris-Dakar (one stage victory)
2000 16th, Dakar - Cairo (2nd in the 400 category)
1999 1st, Gilles Lalay Classique national
1st, Trèfle Lozérien national
1998 French endurance national B champion
13th, Tunisia rally
1993 French senior trial champion
car
Cyril Despres (FRA)
The Cyril Despres story is the stuff of dreams. A mechanic six years ago, he now finds himself in the role of title-holder for this 28th Euromilhoes Dakar. Aged 31, the Frenchman is indisputably the man to follow at the head of the race in the bike category, his whole 2005 season having largely confirmed his status as hot favourite.
Even when he embarked on his first Dakar in 2000, there was no doubt in the mind of this native of the Paris region that he would go on to become one of the top raid rally riders in the world. After some experience in endurance and trial (he was the first Frenchman to win the Trêfle Lozerien), he and a friend set out on their first Dakar as rank outsiders. While riders such as Richard Sainct and Nani Roma were already battling for victory, the newcomer Despres was continuing his apprenticeship, but that still didn’t prevent him from finishing 16th overall in the Cairo.
But it was the following year that Cyril the phenomenon was well and truly born. In the saddle of a Honda 650, he finished 3rd in the Tunisia rally, before tasting victory in its Moroccan equivalent! Courtesy of these outstanding results, he was snapped up by BMW as their 4th rider for the Dakar 2001. As water-carrier for Nani Roma, he earned the unexpected bonus of a 13th-place finish in the Dakar and, as the icing on the cake, a first African special win. For the Arras – Madrid – Dakar in 2002, Despres was recruited by the KTM armada, but after suffering a heavy fall due to a poorly positioned drainage channel, he was forced to pull out on Stage 7.
In 2003, for the Marseilles – Sharm El Sheik, the Seine-et-Marne region man confirmed the ambition he had displayed the previous year in Morocco and Tunisia. In winning three specials, he finished on the second step of the podium in Egypt, wedged between a pair of track legends, Richard Sainct and Fabrizio Meoni.
The following season, Cyril moved up a gear to take the 2003 raid rally world championship title. The KTM rider then continued to break through barriers, most notably by claiming victory in Morocco. On the back of these results, he went into the 2004 Dakar with the sole target of overall victory in mind. Courtesy of an exemplary start to the race and obvious strategic qualities, he had succeeded in taking first place overall by the seventh stage. The following day proved his undoing, however, as a “blank” day where everything that could go wrong did go wrong (GPS problem, running out of petrol) shattered his hopes of victory. Nevertheless, he still finished third in the Dakar.
Having sampled the lower two steps of the podium, Cyril Despres laid the foundations for his first Dakar triumph in 2005 on the Atar-Atar loop stage, where he built up a lead he retained for the remainder of the rally. The death the following day of Fabrizio Meoni only gave him added motivation to carry onwards and upwards the colours of the KTM Gauloises team, already reeling from the loss of Richard Sainct a few months earlier. Despite a penalty cutting his lead over Marc Coma two days from the finish, it was mission accomplished at last in the Dakar.
Cyril Despres’ Dakar honours
2005 Winner, Barcelona – Dakar (2 stage victories)
2004 3rd, Clermont-Ferrand – Dakar (4 stage victories)
2003 2nd, Telefonica-Dakar
2002 Abandoned, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2001 13th, Paris-Dakar (one stage victory)
2000 16th, Dakar - Cairo (2nd in the 400 category)
1999 1st, Gilles Lalay Classique national
1st, Trèfle Lozérien national
1998 French endurance national B champion
13th, Tunisia rally
1993 French senior trial champion
The record man
NUMBER 300: MITSUBISHI RALLIART
Stéphane Peterhansel – Jean-Paul Cottret
Stephane Peterhansel is one of the elite band of drivers who have shaped the Dakar. Armed with an already glorious past in… skateboarding (he was French champion at 14), but most notably in endurance, motocross and supercross, he discovered the Dakar in 1988. His first attempt, which ended in an honourable 18th-place finish, allowed him not only to rub shoulders with his mentors Cyril Neveu and Hubert Auriol, but also to confirm his affinity with the desert and, in the bike category, his navigating skills. His raid rally apprenticeship, a process hinging on the acquisition of the right blend of wisdom and panache, continued until 1991, the year of his first Dakar motorbike victory. “I finally worked out how you needed to ride,” explains Peterhansel.
And this was merely the start, for the biker with the blue bandana proceeded to lift a total of six titles in eight years in the saddle of a Yamaha. When he switched to four wheels, initially for Nissan in 1999, “Peter” had to undergo a new learning curve but, before long, the qualities acquired on the bikes were coming to the fore: after finishing 7th at his first attempt, he made the second step of the podium the following year, already accompanied by Jean-Paul Cottret. In 2003, a minor infringement on the last-but-one stage deprived him of the victory he had looked certain to achieve. Consequently, his coronation was delayed until 2004, when “Peter” became only the second driver after Hubert Auriol in the history of the Dakar to win both the car and bike categories.
In total command of his art, Peterhansel coasted through the 2005 rally, keeping his only real rival, team-mate Luc Alphand, at arm’s length throughout. This time around, the multiple world skiing champion again stands out as the main rival for victory, but like everyone, he has been served notice of the current form of his team leader, who looked simply awesome in the UAE Desert Challenge. In one of his few appearances of the year, “Peter” quite simply won all eight specials at the event, a grand slam that speaks volumes about his form and motivation going into the Dakar.
Stéphane Peterhansel’s Dakar honours
1991 1st on bike, Paris - Dakar
1992 1st on bike, Paris - Le Cap
1993 1st on bike, Paris - Dakar
1995 1st on bike, Grenada - Dakar
1997 1st on bike, Dakar - Agades - Dakar
1998 1st on bike, Paris - Grenada - Dakar
1999 7th overall, Grenada – Dakar (car)
2000 2nd overall, Dakar - Cairo (car)
2001 12th overall (1st T1), Paris - Dakar
2002 Abandoned, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2003 3rd, Marseilles – Sharm-el-Sheikh
2004 1st overall, Clermont-Ferrand - Dakar
2005 1st overall, Barcelona - Dakar
Co-driver: Jean-Paul COTTRET (FRA)
- Winner of the Dakar in 2004 and in 2005 as co-driver
- Five finishes on the Dakar podium
- Winner of the Tunisia and Morocco Rallies in 2004 as co-driver
Stéphane Peterhansel – Jean-Paul Cottret
Stephane Peterhansel is one of the elite band of drivers who have shaped the Dakar. Armed with an already glorious past in… skateboarding (he was French champion at 14), but most notably in endurance, motocross and supercross, he discovered the Dakar in 1988. His first attempt, which ended in an honourable 18th-place finish, allowed him not only to rub shoulders with his mentors Cyril Neveu and Hubert Auriol, but also to confirm his affinity with the desert and, in the bike category, his navigating skills. His raid rally apprenticeship, a process hinging on the acquisition of the right blend of wisdom and panache, continued until 1991, the year of his first Dakar motorbike victory. “I finally worked out how you needed to ride,” explains Peterhansel.
And this was merely the start, for the biker with the blue bandana proceeded to lift a total of six titles in eight years in the saddle of a Yamaha. When he switched to four wheels, initially for Nissan in 1999, “Peter” had to undergo a new learning curve but, before long, the qualities acquired on the bikes were coming to the fore: after finishing 7th at his first attempt, he made the second step of the podium the following year, already accompanied by Jean-Paul Cottret. In 2003, a minor infringement on the last-but-one stage deprived him of the victory he had looked certain to achieve. Consequently, his coronation was delayed until 2004, when “Peter” became only the second driver after Hubert Auriol in the history of the Dakar to win both the car and bike categories.
In total command of his art, Peterhansel coasted through the 2005 rally, keeping his only real rival, team-mate Luc Alphand, at arm’s length throughout. This time around, the multiple world skiing champion again stands out as the main rival for victory, but like everyone, he has been served notice of the current form of his team leader, who looked simply awesome in the UAE Desert Challenge. In one of his few appearances of the year, “Peter” quite simply won all eight specials at the event, a grand slam that speaks volumes about his form and motivation going into the Dakar.
Stéphane Peterhansel’s Dakar honours
1991 1st on bike, Paris - Dakar
1992 1st on bike, Paris - Le Cap
1993 1st on bike, Paris - Dakar
1995 1st on bike, Grenada - Dakar
1997 1st on bike, Dakar - Agades - Dakar
1998 1st on bike, Paris - Grenada - Dakar
1999 7th overall, Grenada – Dakar (car)
2000 2nd overall, Dakar - Cairo (car)
2001 12th overall (1st T1), Paris - Dakar
2002 Abandoned, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2003 3rd, Marseilles – Sharm-el-Sheikh
2004 1st overall, Clermont-Ferrand - Dakar
2005 1st overall, Barcelona - Dakar
Co-driver: Jean-Paul COTTRET (FRA)
- Winner of the Dakar in 2004 and in 2005 as co-driver
- Five finishes on the Dakar podium
- Winner of the Tunisia and Morocco Rallies in 2004 as co-driver