“My stubbornness makes the challenge even more special”
RIDER FACTS…
- Adrien has two big dreams: to win the Enduropale du Touquet and the Dakar. The first has been achieved three times (2014, 15, 16) in a busy career as a beach boy. A three-time French sand champion (2010, 14, 15), the rider from the Nord region of France has enjoyed success from Loon-Plage to Grayan and even in Argentina, where he fell in love with the Enduro del Verano.
- After a few preparatory rallies in 2015, ‘VBA’ discovered the Dakar in 2016 with the factory Yamaha team. He quickly performed well (6th, then 4th in 2017) before going through hard times in the following years. Adrien retired four consecutive times, including one (2018) in a terrible crash as he was heading for victory.
- Moving to Honda in 2021, the tall blond quickly became one of the pillars at HRC. He was very active in developing the bike and excelled through his results (victory in the 2022 Andalucia Rally and 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge). He has four consecutive podiums in the world championship, including two runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2024. Gold is in his sights. This season, he hopes.
- The current top French rally-raid rider will set off on his tenth Dakar on 3 January 2025, on the eve of his 34th birthday. That makes him one of the most experienced bikers in the current caravan. Van Beveren still wants to make his dream come true: victory.
AMBITION 2025
A.V.B.: “I've been on the world championship podium for four seasons in a row, which is great. I finished runner-up in 2024, 11 points off the title, despite missing one race. I'm one of those riders out front at every rally. I'm in line with my objectives. I want to go for the title; we have every reason to believe! We've worked hard to develop the bike with Honda, and it's an honour to be working with such a team. I've gained a lot of confidence with the CRF. I'm from a sand background, but now I can compete on all types of terrain, even on gravel, which wasn't the case before. I like to take risks while still having a certain feeling of control, and that suits the Honda pretty well. I need to work on getting going so that I can be in contention straight away. That's always been my profile. Even at Le Touquet, I wasn't the fastest in the first hour, and then I'd move up the order. It's no secret that my dream and goal is to win the Dakar. The intensity of this dream has helped me keep going, not giving up despite setbacks. There was a time when it would have been easy to stop believing. Now that I've got my first podium, everyone tells me it was the right choice. This stubbornness makes the challenge even more special! But just because you don't win doesn't mean you didn't have a good Dakar. Considering what happened to me in my career, finishing is already a victory! If at the end of the race, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you say to yourself that you put everything together and gave the best of yourself, then you have made a success of your Dakar”.
