“I did some new mental training, and I’d like to try it here”
Crew facts
T.K.
- Thomas Kongshoj is preparing for his fourth consecutive Dakar in the bikes. The 43-year-old suffered nasty crashes in both of his first two appearances, but showed incredible mental strength to grit his teeth and make it to the finish line - even setting a new Danish record (39th). He earned his third finisher medal in a row in 2025.
- Thomas grew up watching the Dakar on TV with his father, although he spent years competing in motocross and enduro before discovering rally-raid. He is a 10-time Danish champion and won the national Enduro Elite crown every year between 2013 and 2018.
- He is only the second Dane ever to ride a bike at the world's biggest rally. Jes Munk made his debut on two wheels in 2011 and came 52 nd in 2012. He also drove a Polaris buggy to the finish line in 2015. Thomas represents his country but also Scandinavia, which has had few competitors on two wheels in recent years.
- Back home, he also runs Thomas Kongshoj Racing, which offers tailored training courses and team building days for offroad enthusiasts. As being the only biker from Denmark, he tries to motivate, inspire people in many ways, in motorsports racing but also in life in general.
- The native of Slagelse is preparing his machine -a brand new KTM- but he will compete in his fourth Dakar with the Challenger Racing Team, the new French structure created by the rider Charlie Herbst, which will welcome its first customers in 2026.
Ambition
T.K.: “When I started in 2023 I was the first Dane to do the Dakar in 11 years, so I'm quite alone up here! After my big crash in 2024, the goal was to do a good 2025 race to get my confidence back, because I was a bit scared. I had a really good Dakar and the confidence is back with a lot of new energy and power to build on. This race has so many hard moments you have to deal it: when you’re cold, where you have a lot of stones… But when you finish, it’s the best feeling. I like the marathon stages, it’s kind of old style and you’re with the rally-raid community, so the 2026 route looks not bad to me! The priority is to be a finisher. My goal is to stay in the roadbook. It could be nice to be fight for the Top 40 but the most important is to enjoy, to learn a lot and to follow the roadbook. I did some special mental training this year, with tools to be more focused, and I’d like to try it here. My plan is to do four more Dakar in the bikes, maybe a bit more, and then to switch to cars.”
