Dakar Mag

Jérôme Renaud has an old score to settle. He started his love affair with the Dakar on two wheels. He keeps bittersweet memories of his sole participation on a motorbike, when he had to withdraw from the race three days before the finish after overcoming the Mauritanian desert. Just a few months later, a terrible crash in the Pharaons Rally left him with three broken vertebrae and ended his career as a biker. Jérôme still feels the effects of that accident, but he has taken the time to recover and his passion for rally raids burns as bright as ever....

Cristina Gutiérrez already exudes the temperament and reflexes of an old hand on the Dakar. The Spanish driver is taking part in her third rally, after two relatively conclusive experiences which she completed in 44th (in 2017) then in 39th position (in 2018).However, this young lady, driven by her competitive fibre in every thing she does, always wants more. This year, Cristina has well and truly stepped up a gear, by participating in a higher performance prototype, which has allowed her to extend her ambitions. “Last year, I was driving a production model and...

Olga Roučková's Dakar debut on her quad in January 2018 was a painful affair. The adventure had a happy ending when she reached Córdoba after a titanic effort (26th), often finishing the specials in the dark and on the verge of collapse. Her passion for the Dakar remains the same, but she found a way to keep competing while avoiding the most gruelling part. "Ollie" is now driving an S×S from the Czech Moto Racing Group team and has a different perspective of the Dakar: "It was so difficult to finish the race last year. I did it, in the end, but I...

He was ready and, above all, resolutely determined to take part in the race. Gregory Stuart oversees a macadamia nut plantation in South Africa, but his true passion is the Dakar, an event that has captivated him since he started riding a motorbike over two decades ago. This year, he decided to take the plunge. The tall, strapping lad made the challenge even harder by signing up for the Original by Motul category for riders without assistance. Shortly after finishing the first stage after the rest day, he sports the same fatigued expression as most of his fellow adventurers...

The last female rider left in the rally, Anastasia Nifontova, managed to finish stage 6 before nightfall. It was another success for the Husqvarna rider, who is racing in her second Dakar in the Original by Motul category. The Russian's fatigue remains intact despite the mounting fatigue. "The organisers did their best to kill me, but I lived to fight another day!", she says in a burst of laughter. Jokes apart, Anastasia admits the stage from Arequipa to San Juan de Marcona pushed her to the limit."First, we had twenty kilometres on dunes where the sand had been...