Profile of BRADLEY COX - SHERCO RALLY FACTORY - Dakar

N°7 Bike SHERCO RALLY FACTORY

DANIEL SANDERS

RICKY BRABEC

BRADLEY COX

(RSA) Born on 13/02/1998 1.71m / 70kg

Hobbies

cycling

Participations

Stage wins

Stages

Cat.

Group

Podiums

Cat.

Group

Wins

Cat.

Group

Other races

"Blue makes my eyes pop"

Crew facts

Multi-time South African enduro and motocross champion, Bradley Cox (whose father Alfie finished on the podium three times in the bike category), debuted in rally raiding at the 2021 Morocco Rally. He was 23 years old at the time. Finishing third in the Rally 2 category, he immediately became a rider to keep an eye on.
The Dakar Rally has not been kind to him, however. Technical problems marred his 2022 debut. In 2023, he crashed on the opening stage. And in the most recent edition, a crash just 100 metres after the start of stage 6 forced him to retire yet again.
In four participations, the South African has completed 50% of his Dakars. He finished third in the Rally 2 category in 2024 (13th overall).
Apart from the first two rounds of the W2RC (the Dakar and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge), Cox reached a milestone in the 2025 season. Leaving Rally 2 behind, he moved up to the elite category (Rally GP) with his new team: the Sherco Rally Factory team.
Eighth in the W2RC after top 10 finishes in the Safari Rally and Morocco, the 27-year-old rider hopes to close the gap on the leaders in the upcoming Dakar Rally.

Ambition

"This will be my fifth Dakar, but it feels like I'm preparing for my very first one. It's unbelievable how time flies. The most significant difference this time is my colour, of course. In 2022, it was so exciting because everything was unknown, and I didn't know what to expect. Now I know what to expect, and it's a little scarier. But the preparation remains the same.

I feel older. The rally makes you feel older. You rack up so many kilometres; you spend so much time thinking and facing the unknown. But it's just experience, and the biggest change is that I put more pressure on myself. I've now realised my dream of becoming a factory rider. Before, I was always waiting for that phone call, the one that would change everything. I have to remember to do what I know how to do and ride the bike as best I can.

At the last Dakar, I moved up to the Rally GP category, and it really felt like I was up there with the big boys. I'm no longer in Rally 2, where you fight to win stages. Now you're with the best, and every detail counts. Being one of the yellow numbers is special.

I rode a KTM for 22 years. My father was part of the KTM factory team, and he owns a KTM dealership back home. So yes, it's a huge change. For me, this moment had to come. And, besides, blue makes my eyes pop."

Vehicle

SHERCO RALLY FACTORY

SHERCO 450 RALLY
SHERCO RALLY FACTORY

Mark SHERCO
Model 450 RALLY
Weight 140
Length 210
Class Rally GP

Ranking 2026

All news of B. Cox

Six makers in the Dakar top 20

While KTM and Honda hog the top spots in the final Dakar standings, no fewer than six different makers feature in the top 20 of the motorbike category. Hero sit in the mix with Ignacio Cornejo in seventh and Ross Branch in eighth, followed by Sherco and their factory rider Bradley Cox in twelfth and Hoto with Mason Klein in fourteenth. Husqvarna make the cut thanks to Bruno...

Third finish in Al Henakiyah

The Dakar discovered Al Henakiyah on the first stage of the 2024 edition, won by bikers Ross Branch (Rally GP) and Bradley Cox (Rally 2). The caravan returned there in 2025 (on stage 3), where victory was obtained by Lorenzo Santolino (Rally GP) and Edgar Canet (Rally 2). As for the winners there in the FIA race, all will be revealed at 10.20 local time!

Clutch complications crimp Cox

Bradley Cox has stopped at km 226. The Sherco rider has some clutch issues but hopes to be back on the move any minute now. He was running ninth in the stage and eleventh overall at the previous time check.

Sherco still counting on Cox

Yesterday was a difficult day for Bradley Cox. The last Sherco rider in the race following his team-mates Harith Noah and Lorenzo Santolino crashing out of the race, the South African hoped to break into the top 5 to give the brand its best result on the Dakar. However, a fuel pump problem 91 kilometres from the finishing line put paid to his hopes, with two hours lost,...

A CRUSHING BLOW: COX DOWN IN THE PUMPS

After losing Harith Noah in stage 1 and Lorenzo Santolino in stage 2, Sherco were counting on their last man standing, Bradley Cox, to reach the finish in Yanbu —if possible, inside the top 5 to improve on the manufacturer's best performance to date, courtesy of "Santo", sixth in Jeddah in 2021. The South African woke up in eighth place, less than an hour from fifth. However,...

Bradley Cox lives to fight another day

Good news for Sherco: Bradley Cox has fixed the fuel pump issue that had forced him to stop 29 km from the finish. The South African finally made it across the line 1 h 48 behind the stage winner but remains in the race. In the RallyGP class, a stage DNF would have meant being out of the rally altogether.

Bradley Cox stops

A technical failure is holding Bradley Cox back at km 431. The Sherco rider, who had posted the fifteenth-fastest time at the previous time check, is 28 km from the finish. Lorenzo Santolino and Harith Noah are already out of the race, so there is no-one left to bail him out.

Bradley Cox: “I knew it was a good day for me to push”

The South African biker is riding an official bike for the first time, for French brand Sherco. Today he achieved the 4th best time, equalling his best performance accomplished on stage 1 in 2024, when he was behind the handlebars of a KTM.

“I’m really happy. I’ve been telling myself day by day that my day is going to come. I’ve...