“I'm back because I have some unfinished job to do!”

“Jamais deux sans trois”, as says the French proverb. Having experienced different fortunes during his first two Dakar, in 2021 and 2023, Libor Podmol is lining up for the third time on the toughest rally in the world. The 38-year-old Czech has made a name for himself as one of the biggest stars in freestyle motocross, securing the FIM FMX world championship title in 2010. He has also won two X-Games gold medals, becoming the first non-American to do so in the MTX Step Up class in 2013. Having spent most of his career doing two-minute runs in low gears -to perfect his spectacular flips and tricks- Libor had a real change of scenery when he discovered the Dakar three years ago. The idea of competing first came to him in 2016, and he might have lined up earlier were it not for a terrible crash at a freestyle motocross event in Munich in April 2019, which resulted in two broken legs and a lengthy rehabilitation. But even if he did his maiden Dakar with 43 screws in his legs, he still managed to bring his bike home in 31st place overall. Completing the rally had particular significance for Libor; his father failed to make it through Dakar 1994 and died four years later, so his son was delighted to finally get the Podmol name onto the finishing podium. Having skipped Dakar 2022 due to fatigue and some health issues, Libor returned in 2023 with a bang in the assistance-free Original by Motul category. Joined in the class by Czech rally-raid legend David Pabiska, he aimed to finish the race but failed because of a crash during the second stage. A year later, he’s back to finish the job, hoping to fight for the podium in his category even if he lacks training. A talented all-rounder who has featured in several films and published four books, Libor is determined to write another memorable chapter of his Dakar story in this 46th edition.

“Dakar 2023 is not a very good memory! It was tough but that’s why I’m coming back for a third time: I’ve got an unfinished job to complete! I want to finish the race this year, and hopefully get a good result in the Original by Motul class. It’ll be hard to beat 31st place from 2021, because I’m competing without a mechanic or any assistance. But I’d like to be high in Original by Motul. My speed is not too bad so I will try to fight for the podium. Physically I feel good, but I don’t have enough riding time on my rally bike. In fact, the bike is ready since last year because I didn’t use it much on the Dakar, or since! I’ve done a lot of freestyle contests this year, but in terms of racing, I’ve only used my enduro bike to do the Baja 555 Romania, a good training for the Dakar. I only used the rally bike to do some backflips!”