CHARLIER Stéphane BEL 07/03/1966 180 cm 75 kg

Vehicle

MODEL	MAKE
690 RALLYE	KTM

RANKING

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Scratch	209	174	129	84	68	84	79	83	122	-	-	-	-	-
Stage	209	174	129	82	68	84	88	82	123	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Overall	209	191	176	154	125	118	111	106	114	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Stéphane Charlier : «To finally participate in the raid of all raids”

He has raced motorcycles for 25 years. Stéphane Charlier followed the classic path of the amateur rider. First came trial –“the best school” –, then enduro, with a title as the top four-stroke Junior Belgian in 1991. After a quarter century of riding, this year he will discover the Dakar for the first time. “I couldn’t really commit myself to it before because I had to take care of my children”. Today, his children are adults; the eldest has created a blog dedicated to his father the bike racer (stephanecharlier.skynetblogs.be).

For this restaurant owner, the Dakar is obviously an event with something special. “This is the raid of all raids and I followed it since the beginning. The route seems to me to be particularly tough this year.” The difficulties and inconveniences don’t displease him. 20 years ago, something clicked for Stéphane. He went to Tunisia for a motorcycle raid and he met “people who were incredibly warm, who didn’t have very much, but who were always smiling and happy. I who has a luxurious and opulent lifestyle, saw that this puts your feet back on the ground when living these kinds of experiences.”

In Argentina, he who was elected most promising restaurateur by the “Gault and Millau” in 1994, knows he will not be eating the seared duck liver and fish and lobster stew, the two specialties of his restaurant. “People have told me the food isn’t too bad on the Dakar…” This world traveller who has already been to Uganda, Zimbabwe and Madagascar is “enthusiastic” about the idea of discovering a new continent.

Dakar start photos on line: www.maindruphoto.com

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